


Full Moonlit Nights

by Torex



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/M, Fluff, Hogwarts, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), School, Werewolves, Witches, Wizards
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 17:15:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 35
Words: 54,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29354064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Torex/pseuds/Torex
Summary: Being twins with James Potter isn't as hard as people think, especially when you don't look alike, you are part of his group and sleep in the spare bed in their room. However also being friends with a certain group of Slytherins does make it hard, so does sneaking out with one of your friends on full moons once a month so he isn't alone. Your first year of Hogwarts sure sounds fun when it's put like that.
Relationships: Remus Lupin & Reader, Remus Lupin & You, Remus Lupin/Reader, Remus Lupin/You
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	1. Brain Freezes, Friends & A Supposed Greasy Git

“(y/n)!” he yelled out to you through the crowd.  
“There you are James, finally, I’ve been looking everywhere for you,” you lied through your teeth, but he didn’t need to know that.  
“Yeah, yeah, sure you have. Anyway, I would like you to meet some of the most interesting humans to grace your presence,” you rolled your eyes at his as he continued.  
“I would like you to meet Mr. Remus Lupin, a supposed bookworm, Mr. Sirius Black, descended from the richest of rich, and one Mr. Peter Pettigrew, I don’t know what to say about him, he just kinda follows the rest of us.”

Greeting the 3 11-year-olds infront of you, you asked James how he somehow made a group of friends before even getting on the train,  
“We met in Twilfit and Tattings, being half naked in front of a bunch of guys can really make you close, y’ know. Not like you found anyone did ya sis?”  
“Who me? Maybe,”  
“oh, do tell,”  
“there was a red headed girl, Lily, seems interesting, bit full of herself but sweet and quite smart. The other was a guy called Severus I think, barely spoke two words, oh well, im sure he’ll talk eventually, haha. Holding wands with a bunch of people can really make you close y’ know,” you mocked. 

“Well, c’mon then (y/n) mum gave me some extra money so we can each get an owl, the guys are coming with cuz they wanna get a pet too,” Sirius James and Peter all started walking whilst Remus waited for you.  
“Good luck being friends with him by the way, he’s a right pain,”  
“Oh? He didn’t seem too bad”  
“Maybe now, but when you have known someone since the womb you tend to pick up if someone is a bad egg,”  
“If you’re twins didn’t you come from the same egg?  
“Haha, no. We are fraternal twins different eggs, ya know,”  
“Oh, well I’m sure he would say the same about you,”  
“ha! I doubt it, he doesn’t have enough brain cells, he thinks we were in our mum’s stomach still,”  
“Well that really is concerning,”  
“See what I meant about bad egg,”  
“Yes, I suppose you might’ve had a slight point with that one,”  
“Oh my god you aren’t talking to her are you? She will rot your brain Remus,” James exclaimed  
“Shove off James, just because you don’t understand half the words I use doesn’t make me brain rot,”  
“Sure, sure, anyway here we are what owl do you want sis?”

You all walked into the shop and immediately layed your eyes on the most beautiful owl you had ever seen. White belly with most of it a pale brown with white dots,  
“Like what ya see lil’ miss?”  
“Oh? Yeah he’s gorgeous how much?”  
“that fella, oh I’ll give him to you for, eh, 6 galleons seems a fair price, I need to get rid of him anyway, most people don’t go for Northern Saw-Whet owls,”  
“Brilliant thank you,” you said handing over the money.

The owl jumped onto your shoulder as you walked out of the store to wait for the rest of them. Peter came out with a rather ugly rat you hoped your bird would eat simply so you wouldn’t have to see it again. Closely followed by Sirius who had bought a spotted owl. Then Remus who decided that a cat was a good idea, which it was, but the cat was sitting on his shoulder like a parrot in one of those muggle shows. Finally, James emerged with a barn owl. 

“Does some ice cream sound like a good way to finish the day before finding mum and dad James?” he looked at you as if you had offered him a million galleons,  
“Definitely but you’re paying,”  
“haha yeah alright, you coming boys? I’ll pay,” They all nodded and the five of you made your way to the ice cream parlour. They all just got a single scoop since they were polite. James, however, decided to get 5 scoops, and as many toppings as he could. You all ended up helping him eat the ice cream after he suffered a rather sudden onset of brain freeze, much to his dismay.

After finishing you all walked out and said your goodbyes, acting as if you wouldn’t see each other for another year. Even though, in reality, you would see each other in just over a week. Sirius ruffled your hair when you gave him a hug, earning him a slap on his chest. Which he just laughed at as he pushed your shoulder a bit. Peter on the other hand seemed scared of you and backed behind Sirius, as if there was something particularly interesting on his back. Remus however gave you a short hug and nodded his goodbye just before he walked away to greet his dad. 

You and James walked into the Leaky Cauldron with your owls on your shoulders and packages filling your arms. Looking around you tried to spot your parents. As you emerged from a puff of smoke from several people’s cigars you saw your parents sitting surprisingly regally for the place. Though they always managed to, being quite rich they looked always looked the part in their fancy clothes and polite mannerisms. You walked up to them and once they saw you they quickly shrunk your packages and levitated them into your mother’s bag. They stood up and gave you a hug before the three of you went to find James. Unsurprisingly he had started talking to a woman who was a bit older than your parents. She was very lean with black wiry yet oily hair that clung to her face. You realised that she might have been the mother of the boy you met earlier, the one with Lily who didn’t talk much.

“Oh please, it isn’t as if I meant to walk into you. Why would I want to walk into someone with the likes of you? I mean, when was the last time you washed your hair anyway?”  
You could tell your parents were quite annoyed as they started walking quickly towards James. However at that moment you saw Severus walk in and towards the woman, making you quite sure she was infact his mum,  
“oh is that your child? Really looks the part, greasy git,”  
“James!” you exclaimed in shock, “that wasn’t necessary,”  
He turned to see yours and your parent’s disgusted faces as he smirked and walked towards you. You gave Severus an apologetic glance as you followed your family to the floo network.

“James Fleamont Potter! You know better than to act like that!” Your mother yelled across the sitting room, in her favourite blue chair with a glass of firewhiskey in hand. How she managed to get from one side to the other in a matter of seconds always baffled you, it was a rather large room after all and she did not go through the floo with that glass.  
“Do you know who her kid is? He’s some scum who grew up in Cokeworth, y’know that really crappy area that has a higher population of vermin than humans. Sirius met him before I met Sirius. Apparently he is a shy little wimp, his mother couldn’t be much better,”  
“That gives you no reason to harass that woman, save it for someone who deserves it,” your father suggested,  
“Absolutely not, you know better than to act like that,” your mother intervened,  
“James, her son isn’t that bad you know, he’s the boy I met at Ollivander’s that I told you about,”  
“You befriended that scum? Your standards are lower than I thought,”  
“At least I don’t make friends by seeing people half naked,” he seemed to acknowledge your point before walking away to his room to get his things in order.

You followed suit and spread everything out on your bed. You hung up your robes and put your books, ink, quills and other assorted items into your trunk. It took you a good half an hour to have everything sorted before you relaxed in your arm chair and started reading the standard book of spells. Hoping the week would go by quickly so that you could meet your 5 new friends, 4 if you didn’t count Peter who was so dam shy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi I hope you liked the first chapter. Comments and kudos are appreciated greatly.  
> P.S If there is something in particular you would like to see leave it in the comments and I might add it in, I do have ideas but I like when an author adds my ideas to stories so why not :) (drama scenarios etc.)  
> Thanks for reading xx


	2. Small Corridors and a Moving Train

Steam from the Hogwarts Express bombarded your senses as you went through the barrier to Platform 9 3/4. James instantly ran off with your luggage to find a compartment, whilst you said goodbye to your parents. James might have been a real pain sometimes but when he could show off the “muscles” he had by taking your things for you, you did like having him around. Hugging your parents one final time you said your goodbyes. Just before you left your mother reminded you to try keep your secret a secret, unless it was totally necessary, or to pull pranks your father added. Turning around to get onto the train you walked headfirst into a girl with familiar red hair.

“Lily!” you exclaimed as your arms circled her in an embrace.  
“(y/n)! how are you girly?”  
“I’m fine thanks, where’s Severus?”  
“Oh, I think he’s onboard already he probably tried to find a compartment for us, also call him Sev. Severus is just so, oh I don’t know, tedious, long, did I say tedious? Oh well, it deserves to be said twice. Besides, you will mess up sentences if you say his name too much take it from me. Oh, it’s just so good to see you again, wait where’s your brother, you did say you have one right, I’m just so scatterbrained sometimes and that’s when I don’t just shut up. Oh god, I’m so sorry,”  
“Please, Lils its fine, I ramble sometimes as well, yes I do have a brother he is also finding a compartment. Let’s go find Sev and I’ll sit with you guys for a while if you don’t mind,”  
“Mind? Me? Are you kidding? I would love to have you sit with us, though I understand that you wouldn’t want to sit with us for ages, we are rather boring after all, god here I go again, c’mon let’s get on the train before we miss it because I’m talking,”

Walking through the small hallway was uncomfortable. Some people seemed lost and people who just seemed generally annoyed at the number of people. You peered into every compartment until you and Lily saw James, Sirius, Peter and Remus. You ran up to them to say hi before continuing your search. However, once you reached them you saw that Severus was already in the compartment and looked rather uncomfortable at the confrontation that James was causing. 

“Get out, you git, we can’t find any other compartments,”  
“Believe it or not, I was here first and I have no desire to vacate the compartment,”  
“Did you hear that Black? The git knows a couple of big words. Now then, get out or else,”  
“Or else what? You will hex me? Do you even know any spells?”  
“No, I don’t however if you don’t leave you will get off this train with a black eye, rather embarrassing way to start your schooling huh,” By this point you had heard enough,  
“James, come off it find another compartment,” you told him as you and Lily squeezed past, sitting down opposite Severus,”  
“Good idea (y/n) just sit here ‘til he leaves,”  
“um no, that’s not the idea. The idea is that I sit with Sev and Lily for a while and I’ll join you later,”  
“Care to explain why you would choose his company over everyone else’s?  
“I’m also choosing Lily’s company if you recall, now scram, or I’ll tell mum. You wouldn’t want a howler, would you?”  
“C’mon guys let’s find somewhere else, no point arguing with an idiot anyway,”  
“Will you join us later (y/n)?” Remus asked you as his friends started walking away. You nodded and mumbled that you would before he went to catch up.

“Thanks, but I can take care of myself. Also, don’t you dare call me Sev again,”  
“Sevvvv,” Lily whined, “I told her to call you Sev, it’s so much better than Severus, also you did not seem to be winning that argument if (y/n) didn’t come in at that moment you would have been pulp. You should be thanking her, not disregarding her,”  
“Fine, thank you for all your help, my absolute saviour,” he replied sarcastically  
“Oh please, the pleasure is all mine, good sir,” you responded in the most pretentious voice you could muster. You and lily started laughing at your terrible humour and Sev quirked his lips slightly. You figured it would take a while for him to do much more than that for quite a while, so you took the small gesture as a proper smile and continued laughing with your friend.

After an hour or so you decided to go find your brother. You stood up when Lily grabbed your wrist,  
“Oh, don’t leave, I don’t wanna be alone,”  
“Lils, you have Sev, you won’t be alone,”  
“Sev barely talks to me though, he just reads, please stay,”  
“Lils, Sev really isn’t that bad at talking, besides I wanna see them,”  
“Why would you subject yourself to mental torture?” Sev asked  
“Excuse me?”  
“I’m asking why you would voluntarily spend time with them,”  
“Well James is my brother, Remus is interesting, Sirius is funny and Peter, well I could take him or leave him but he’s there, so I just ignore him,”  
“They are big-headed and ridiculous,”  
“They are big-headed and ridiculous, but they are still my friends, and that’s part of the reason I like them,”  
“If were you I would avoid them, you don’t have to stay with Lily and myself, but I would not be around them,”  
“You aren’t going to control me Sev, I’m spending time with my other friends now, so goodbye, and Lils, catch up later?”  
“Yeah alright, see ya,”

Walking down the corridor was much easier now that most people were already in their compartments. After a couple of carriages, you found Remus reading a book and the other three acting like idiots. You quietly opened the door and stood in the doorway for a moment. Remus noticed you immediately but kept quiet. You just stood there until James pushed Sirius off the seat and he fell onto your legs.

“(y/n)!”  
“Hey Sirius, I know you like me, but I didn’t think you were falling for me,”  
“Oh my god, that is the oldest joke in the book,”  
“You bought a book with the oldest jokes in it? That’s just sad,”  
“Shove off, (y/n)” instead of shoving off you helped him to his feet as he tried to hug you instead.  
“Hey guys, miss me?”  
“Definitely not, I don’t like having you around, though you could have chosen better company,” James retorted  
“I missed you,” Remus muttered under his breath. At that, you wrapped him in a hug and James walked over and hit the back of his head,  
“Hey! No hitting on my sister,”  
“I wasn’t hitting on her,”  
“You just said you missed her,”  
“You three don’t shut up, my eardrums are practically dying, your sister, however, is pleasant and doesn’t make me want to wrap a pillow around my head,”  
“Aww, you are so smitten, Remus,”  
“Oh my god James, lay off it, k? would it make you feel better if I sat in your lap, wrapped my arms around your neck and smothered you in kisses?”  
“Ewww! (y/n)! Don’t ever suggest that again, that is disgusting,”  
“If it helps, I’d rather kill you than kiss you,”  
“Oh my god, you two stop or me, Remus and Peter are leaving,” Sirius wailed.

You started reading your beginner's transfiguration next to Remus who seemed to be reading beginners charms. Though you both seemed to have considerable issues trying to concentrate with Sirius and James being loud as anything and Peter cheering him on. When a lady came to the door and asked if you and your friends wanted anything from the trolley James pulled out the money your mother gave him to get you both some treats. He bought some chocolate frogs, sugar quills and a small box of ‘Bertie bots every flavour beans’ for each of you.

It didn’t take long for you all to have a competition with the beans. Whoever could pretend to have a good one the best would win that round. All you would win was some bragging rights but that didn’t matter if you win any prize was worth it. Sirius did surprisingly well at the game-winning the most, though you were pretty sure he just had a good pack, you kept getting vomit, toothpaste with orange juice, ear wax and an assortment of other disgusting flavours. At least that competition made the loud trio a bit quieter.

The rest of the train ride passed quite well with you and Remus managing to get through a bit more of your study whilst the other three continued their ridiculous charades. Though you did wonder how Lily and Severus were getting on. You did want to drop by and say hi to Lily at some point but you didn’t want James and Sirius to go off at Severus again, so you decided to just stay with your group.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters down, I don't even know how many to go. If you want to leave a comment with a review or requests/ suggestions they are much appreciated. xx


	3. Carriages and Boats

As the train slowed you realised how late it had gotten. You were leaning on the side of the compartment and your tiredness made a lot more sense to you now. Remus stood up and reached above the seats to grab his trunk. James, being a show-off, grabbed his trunk as well as yours, handing it over with the most sarcastic ‘milady’ you had ever heard. Peter was being his typical self and just copying whatever James and Sirius did. If you hadn’t seen him eyeing a third year earlier, you would have thought the guy was in love with Sirius and James. Which was a thought that made you physically ill. 

You all walked off of the train together and attempted to make sense of the hustle and bustle that you were all surrounded by. You saw a man who seemed at least twice as tall as your parents trying to call all of the first years over to him. You and Remus who had been paying attention to anything went over immediately, only to find out the other three had probably gotten on one of the carriages. You thought of telling the man in front of you, but you decided against it. Watching the aftermath would be extremely funny. You looked to your right to see Remus who you figured had the same thought process as you. 

“they are right idiots aren’t they,”  
“This is nothing, one time I swear it was James who managed to blow up the shed. He was painting at the time. He claims something of dad’s blew up,”  
“Yeah, because that is likely,”  
“to be fair the stuff our dad has in there was going to explode eventually, but in the 5 minutes that James was in there. None of us believed him but we couldn’t prove it and he just seemed to be convinced by his own story we decided to leave it be,”  
“you could talk about James messing up for days, couldn’t you?”  
“Oh definitely, favourite pastime,”  
“I’m sure it is,”  
“FIRST YEARS, OK LOOK LIKE THAT’S MOST OF YEH, OK FOLLOW ME,” The man yelled.

You, Remus and the rest of the first years all followed the man, down the hill. A couple times you almost fell but Remus managed to catch you by your forearms both times.  
“Sorry, I’m a clutz,” you apologised, though he just brushed you off and gently held your fingers in his hand as he pulled you along the trail. 

After ten or so minutes you were down by the edge of the lake where a tonne of boats where being stored.  
“Two to a boat,” the man said, not having to yell again  
“How exactly are we supposed to get across this lake with just a boat? Don’t we need paddles or something?” a random person yelled out, presumably a muggleborn.  
“Magic, o’course, honestly first years,”  
Remus and you walked towards one of the boats. You were going to let him get in first, but he decided he would help you in considering you had tripped twice earlier. You were thankful he did because as he was helping you in you lost your balance and fell out, thankfully you were in the shallows, so Remus managed to catch you, though you did wet the bottom of your robes. The second time you managed to get in and of course he managed to get in on his first attempt. 

Going across the lake was magical. You couldn’t think of a better word for it than that, it was purely magical. The way the ripples in the water reflected the moon, the stars, the clouds and boats. 

“Remus?”  
“mhm,”  
“When I get married, I want to do it somewhere like this. On a boat in the middle of lake, at night reflecting everything and surrounded by hills,”  
“That would be nice,”  
“That would be nice? That’s it?”  
“what did you want me to say?”  
“I don’t know actually, sorry, but wouldn’t you want to get married in a place like this?”  
“I don’t think about getting married, I don’t want to get my hopes up, chances are no one would want to marry me, let alone date me,”  
“Remus! How can you say that? Why wouldn’t someone want to marry you?”  
“(y/n), I can’t tell you, maybe I will in the future, but believe me when I tell you people wouldn’t want me, hell you probably wouldn’t even want to be my friend if you knew,”  
“Remus, how can you say that?”  
“Can we drop the topic? please?”  
“No, definitely not. How can you say this about yourself?”  
“It doesn’t matter, forget I said anything,”  
“But,”  
“YER MIGHT WANNA DUCK YOUR HEADS BY THE WAY,”

You looked towards the boat the man was in to see some low hanging branches. You and Remus saw them just in time to duck under. However, from the sputtering you could hear behind you, you figured not everyone had managed to heed the man’s advice. Looking to the front of the boat you caught your first glimpse of Hogwarts. At the sight of it you completely forgot your conversation with Remus and just sat there in awe. The castle was massive, and completely lit up. Every window seemed to be illuminated and it seemed right out of one of those muggle fairy tales. The kind of place prince charming would live. Though you quickly dismissed that logic. Wizards didn’t talk about muggle stories, especially not the fairy tales. 

“It’s beautiful isn’t it, Remus,”  
“Yeah, it is, I thought it would be smaller,”  
“Honestly same,”  
“A’RIGHT FIRST YEARS, WHEN WE DOCK JUST LEAVE THE BOATS, THEY WILL BE TAKEN CARE OF, JUST FOLLOW ME TO THE GREAT HALL,”  
“Should we do something with the boats?” you whispered to Remus  
“Yeah, we are supposed to put them away weren’t you listening, honestly girl, I thought you were smarter than James,” you started laughing and nudged his side to show your disapproval,  
“I just realised, imagine if it wasn’t almost a full moon on the first night, you would have to get across the lake with only the light of the lanterns,”  
“Well, that is one way of looking at it,”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?”  
“oh, uh, nothing, I just don’t find the moon all that, uh, interesting, just another thing in the sky y’know,”  
“Mhm, you’re acting kinda weird y’know,”  
“Am I? wasn’t intentional,”  
“Remus, please, what aren’t you telling me?”  
“Doesn’t matter,”  
“What if I told you something about me, a secret. A secret that not even James knows. It lets me prank him, he thinks he’s haunted,”  
“I doubt it would help,”  
“Do we have a deal?”  
“I’m afraid not. There isn’t much that you could tell me that would be equal to my secret,”  
“What do I have to do to find out?”  
“Honestly? Honestly (y/n) if you want to know you would let me tell you in my own time instead of trying to force it out of me,” Remus snapped.  
“You don’t need to get so mad y’know,”  
“You don’t need to act entitled to know my secrets, I am under no obligation to tell you,”  
“I was curious ok? I didn’t know you were so protective over a goddam secret,”  
“I’ll tell you eventually, I promise I will, but not yet. Though I am interested in knowing your secret,”  
“I’ll tell you my secret when you tell me yours, Remus,”  
“Fair enough I suppose,” 

You were about to respond but the boat suddenly stopped as the water became too shallow for it to continue. Remus quickly got out and offered you his hand to help you, figuring you would fall again if he didn’t.  
“thanks,” you mumbled. You both kept close to the man that had led you to this point and started the rather steep ascent up to the castle. It wasn’t a difficult walk, but it wasn’t easy either. By the time you got to the stairs you were quite sure that your face was quite red. Apparently it was so bad that Remus joked that it looked like you were going to try and sway the sorting hat with your cheeks. You shot him a playful death glare for that comment which he just chuckled at. 

You were about to walk in the doors when the man told the entirety of the first years to stay where you were. Apparently one of the professors was going to escort you in. You couldn’t figure out why the man that had gotten you this far couldn’t walk you into the great hall, but you just accepted there was probably a reason. That was when he walked away and you were just standing there with Remus, both of you wondering if James, Sirius and Peter where alright. 

“Good evening first years, I am Professor McGonagall. Over the next seven years you will learn under some of the best instructors in wizarding Britain, or Scotland. Behind these doors are the rest of the students who will be attending with you. However, before you take your seats you must be sorted into your houses. There are Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. While you are here your houses will be like your family. Your triumphs will earn you points, any rule breaking, and you will lose points. At the end of the year the house with the most points will be awarded the House Cup. Now then, follow me,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the journey to Hogwarts, tomorrow you get sorted! You can probably guess the house you get into haha. Comments are appreciated xx


	4. Lost Boys and Oversized Hats

As Professor McGonagall turned around to open the doors to the great hall you suddenly got very nervous. Remus must have looked at you and noticed because he grabbed your hand and squeezed it in reassurance. You looked over at him and smiled softly and whispered a small thanks as you entered the great hall. All of the students inside were chattering and laughing with one another. You could easily see each house, Slytherin on the far left, then Ravenclaw, then Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff against the right wall. There were floating candles lighting up the entire room in a warm glow. Even though there weren’t a tonne of them it was well lit inside and looking up you saw a near-identical version of the night sky above you. However, you could see galaxies, constellations and nebulas in this one. It was gorgeous, and you hoped you would always love it as much as you hoped you would love it as much as you did at that moment.

You looked around at the different tables of Green, yellow, blue and red but you couldn’t see James, Peter or Sirius. Walking down the hall not being able to spot them you began to worry since they should have been here if they got a carriage with the older students. 

“(y/n) do you see them?”  
“No, no I don’t, you?  
“Nope, where do you think they are?  
“Probably making mischief somewhere,”  
“What do you want to bet they will get detention before the night is up,”  
“I’d bet all the money I have, but if we are correct who do we lose the money to?”  
“If they don’t get detention, you give me one galleon, if they do, I give you one, sound good?”  
“Yeah, you know you’re going to lose though right?”  
“Oh, I am well aware of that, but now you have someone to lose to,”  
“Well, that’s one of looking at it, you don’t actually have to give me anything though,”  
“Nah, I don’t mind, kind of fun anyway,”  
“Haha, alright then,”  
“Alright first years, when I call your name, you will walk up here, sit on the stool, I will place the sorting hat on your head and you will be sorted into your houses,” Professor McGonagall announced.  
“Andromeda Black,” a small girl with bright blonde hair walked up confidently and sat on the stool. The hat took a moment but not as long as you thought before it yelled out,  
“Slytherin,” the girl half leapt off the seat and walked over to who you assumed where her sisters. One of them looked identical to Andromeda, though her hair was black and ridiculously curly instead of straight and blonde. The other sister looked more dignified than the other two and had black hair with white streaks through it, making her quite striking for a 12 or 13-year-old witch. 

You and Remus continued to look around until you heard the first name you recognised,  
“Sirius Black,” No one went up to the stool, your stomach dropped, of course you couldn’t find him, he wasn’t even in the hall, meaning the group must have been wandering the halls.  
“Sirius Black?” the professor called again, though she decided to just continue on with the list assuming that he was just ignoring her. A few names later and it was Lily’s turn.  
“Hmm very bright but so much courage, I say, GRYFFINDOR,” she walked over to the table smiling at Severus who you just spotted.  
“(y/n) Potter,” Remus quickly put his arm around you as a last-minute, good luck hug before you walked up. When Professor McGonagall put the hat on your head it seemed a lot louder than you realised it would.  
“Oh interesting, very interesting, smart, courageous, but with quite a cruel streak I see, you would do well in Slytherin,”  
No please not Slytherin, I want to be in Gryffindor, I want to be with my friend Lily, and my other friends would probably also end up in that house, please, not Slytherin” you thought  
“Not Slytherin eh? Alright, well it’ll have to be GRYFFINDOR,” you smiled at lily and walked over to her. You sat down, right next to her and gave her the biggest hug you could before turning around when the next name was called.

“James Potter,” just like with Sirius, no one went up,  
“James Potter?” still no response,  
“Remus Lupin,” he walked up, clearly nervous and sat down. His head was a bit smaller than yours you realised since the hat fell just a bit below his eyes. You were praying he would be in Gryffindor, so much you didn’t hear what the hat was saying until it yelled out your house. Remus walked right over and sat next to you. You immediately wrapped your arms around him telling him how excited you were that he was in your house. 

“Severus Snape,” he walked up, and he looked very uneasy as he sat down.  
“You have ambition, cunning, SLYTHERIN,” his face instantly fell, and you felt bad for him immediately. Lily didn’t seem nearly as sad though, she looked it for a moment when he was looking at her. But once he looked away from her she looked unfazed, as if she didn’t care at all that her best friend wasn’t in the same house as her. 

“Peter Pettigrew,” once again no one,  
“Peter Pettigrew?” she continued on with the names until everyone was gone, but James, Sirius and Peter weren’t there yet.  
“Where is Mr Potter, Black and Pettigrew?” no response,  
“Mr Filch? There you are, would you find Mr Black, Pettigrew and Potter?” a man who looked scarier than the rest of the staff stiffly nodded, and half walked half hobbled out of the hall.  
“Before we begin the feast Headmaster Dumbledore would like to say a few words,”

A rather old looking man walked up to the podium, and everyone fell silent,  
“Welcome to another year at Hogwarts, and a special welcome to all of our new students. I would like to remind all students that the forest past Hagrid’s hut is forbidden to all students unless accompanied by a staff member. I would like to introduce our new Defence teacher Professor Dowling,” everyone clapped for the professor who was a young woman who’s face had various scars. Her deep brown hair fell to her shoulders in beautiful loose curls, which highlighted and softened her pale complexion. She was stunning but you could tell she had been in her fair amount of battles from the scars.  
“what do you want to bet all the guys in 5th year and above will be hitting on her?” you asked Remus,  
“I’ll bet one galleon, I think it’ll only be 7th years, deal?”  
“You’re on,”  
“Do you two just make bets with one another?” Lily asked, laughing,  
“Yes, I am going to win one galleon by the end of tonight,” you responded  
“You think 5th years are going to be hitting on her tonight?”  
“Oh no, no, no, another bet will get me a galleon,”  
“Ohh ok,”  
“Alright students that’s enough, I would like to remind all third years and above that the first Hogsmeade trip will be on the Saturday at the end of week 4, now that all that is done, enjoy the feast,” the headmaster walked back to the table and as soon as he was seated plates of food appeared. 

You, Remus and Lily all got some beef, potatoes and something that looked a bit weird but all the older students were fighting over it so you figured it couldn’t hurt. About halfway through the meal you were talking to Remus about classes which were to start in the morning. When Mr. Filch came back followed by James, Peter and Sirius. Professor McGonagall met them, thanked Mr. Filch, whispered something to the boys and sorted them. They were all placed in Gryffindor thankfully and you continued the meal.

“Where were you three?” you asked James,  
“We thought we could find a more direct route to the great hall,”  
“How did that go?”  
“Clearly, it went badly,”  
“Yes, very clearly, why did you think you could find it better than students that already go to the school?”  
“I dunno, just thought we could,”  
“And now you are in trouble,”  
“Yeah, that lady person told us to wait after dinner and she would talk to us,”  
“You really did just have to get in trouble on the very first day didn’t you,”  
“You know me too well sister dearest,”  
“Ugh,” you rolled your eyes.

Professor Dumbledore walked back up to the podium once everyone was just about done,  
“Now then, first years you will find a timetable with your belongings for tomorrow, breakfast starts at 8, and class starts at nine. Prefects, please lead your houses back to the dormitories, come on now, pip pip,” at that everyone stood up and made their way out of the great hall, everyone except, James, Peter and Sirius.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Andddd you're in Gryffindor, comments are appreciated xx


	5. It’s Not Against The Rules if You’re Not Caught

Everyone in Gryffindor was following the prefects back to the tower, you lost Lily, but Remus was still by your side. As the prefect reached the tower he spoke two words,  
“fortitudo vincit,” the portrait swung open and you followed the boy in.  
“First years, your dormitories are at the bottom of the stairs, as you progress through your years you get higher and higher, anyway, boys to your left, girls to the left. The room assignments are just here, some of you may have an extra bed, but there are 5 beds per dormitory, there is to be no switching,”

You and Remus made your way over to the board. You were in a dorm with 4 girls you didn’t know, and Remus was with Peter, James and Sirius. You instantly deflated which must have been very clear to Remus because he pulled you off to the side and just told you there was an empty bed in his room.  
“You wouldn’t mind?”  
“If you switch fast enough no one would realise you’re missing,”  
“Want to help me?”  
“Sure,”

You both made your way over to the girls’ steps but as soon as Remus got to the staircase it turned into a slide,  
“Guys can’t go into the girls dorms,” someone yelled out  
“Can girls go to the guys ones though?” you called back,  
“Yeah, you can,” they yelled back.  
You quickly ran to your room to get your trunks and owl.  
Once you were back with all your stuff Remus took half the load and you got to his dorm as quickly as you could. 

The dorm was reasonably sized, with a small furnace in the middle, some desks, and all the beds spread across the room, so it felt more natural. You quickly walked over to the bed closest to the wall,  
“Trying to get away from the guys huh?”  
“Nah, I don’t want to be in the middle of James trying to play the floor is lava, it’s a muggle game he likes. I wouldn’t be surprised if he tried it in here, and I doubt he would go on my bed if it’s here,”  
“Neither of us will get any peace in this room, you do realise this right?” Remus said, walking over to the bed closest to yours.  
“I’ll get more peace than you, you will be closer to them,”  
“By the time we graduate, we will be brilliant at soundproofing spells,”  
“Well, that’s one way of looking at it,”  
“What’s the other?”  
“We will be sleep deprived for the next 7 years,”  
“I have a feeling this won’t end well for either of us,”  
“if it’s that bad we can move to my dorm, I’ll just carry you up the stairs every time,”  
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t,”  
“I won’t but it would be funny,”  
“(y/n) I’m staying in this dorm, even if that means I kick the rest of them out, you are not going to be carrying me to your dorm though,”  
“Fine, if you insist, honestly I’d probably drop you, I’m not that strong,”

You and Remus looked at your lessons for the next day. It was two classes, each an hour and 15 minutes, lunch which was an hour, two more classes, then some free time before dinner which was at 7-8 and curfew at 10. You had charms with Slytherin, Transfiguration with Ravenclaw, Potions with Slytherin and flying with just the Gryffindors. After checking with Remus, you realised you had all your classes with him. You then found out that Peter was in a different class for everything other than flying and you had some classes with James and Sirius.

“Remus?”  
“Mhm,”  
“How much trouble do you think they are in?”  
“It’s been what? An hour? Quite a lot I’d say,”  
“Do you think they can get into the tower?”  
“Professor McGonagall would tell them the password wouldn’t she?”  
“I suppose, but what if they forgot?”  
“You’re worried about your brother aren’t you,”  
“No… Maybe… Of course, I’m worried he’s my brother,”  
“How about we go check then, would that make you feel better?”  
“Yes please, thanks,”  
“Anytime, c’mon let’s go,”

The two of you walked back to the common room and opened the portrait to find a very bored James Sirius and Peter lying on their backs outside the portrait.  
“What are you three doing out here?” you exclaimed.  
“Well, McGonagall gave us the password, but we forgot it or mispronounced it, maybe both, anyway we were stuck,”  
“You didn’t think to go back?”  
“That would injure our pride dear sister, we can’t have that can we?”  
“Oh my god, do you want me to leave you here?”  
“No, ok guys get up let’s go,”  
They followed you and Remus into the common room, and down the stairs to your dorm.  
“I thought guys and girls weren’t supposed to share rooms,”  
“Sirius, it’s only against the rules if someone finds out,”  
“Ok, you’re cool, I’m fine with it,” Sirius decided  
“I have to share with my sister now? Can you not please?”  
“Ok well Remus and Sirius are fine with it, James isn’t, Peter?”  
“Oh, um, I don’t know,”  
“Ok well Peter’s 50-50, so I’m gonna stay, James you can deal with it,”  
“I don’t like you,”  
“Neither, but I like Sirius and Remus, so I’ll just ignore you,”  
“But homework,”  
“Oh my god do you guys actually stop?” Sirius asked, clearing annoyed  
“No,” you both said at the same time.

“So, what happened?” you asked once everyone had chosen a bed. They were in a semi-circle around the room so and from left to right it was you, Remus, Sirius, James then Peter.  
“Well good ol’ McGonagall took us to her office, kinda stuffy, there was a tin of biscuits on the desk, not that we got any, but they are probably for the good students. Anyway, she lectured us about not starting our academic careers like this and to follow instructions blah blah blah, one thing led to another, I might have yelled, Sirius might have yelled, Peter might have tried to yell, McGonagall might or might not have given us a week's worth of detention each,” James explained. You looked over to Remus expectantly and he went to his bag to get the galleon he owed you. After throwing it to you Sirius questioned the action,  
“Well, we had a bet you see. If you got detention Remus would give me a galleon, if you didn’t I would give Remus a galleon,”  
“That is ridiculous, how many bets do you have?”  
“Just one other, if 5th years and above hit on the new defence teacher I get a galleon, if it’s only the 7th years Remus gets a galleon,”  
“and if no one hits on her,”  
“Sirius, she’s hot, if I were a guy I’d hit on her, but hypothetically, if no one did, then neither of us lose anything,”  
“You are so weird, cool for breaking rules, but so, so weird,”

Later that night you all decided it was time for bed, so you took off your shirt to put on your nightie.  
“(Y/N)!” Sirius yelled  
“Calm the hell down, I’m wearing a singlet and undershorts, you literally can't see anything. You would see more if I was wearing a full-body swimsuit,”  
“Still,”  
“Sirius, are you actually complaining that a girl took her shirt off in front of you?”  
“Fair point but still, warn us,”  
“And say what, hey guys I'm going to take off a layer of clothing, don’t worry though, I'm wearing something underneath, do I need to tell you when I take off a jacket as well?”  
“Fine, ok, fine,”  
“If I take off more, then I would go to the bathroom to do so,”  
“Thank you,”  
“You’re welcome, I guess, also can we sleep now?”  
“Yeah alright,” Sirius responded as he took off his shirt  
“OH MY GOD, MY EYES! HOW COULD YOU NOT WARN ME!” you yelled mockingly,  
“You can’t see anything you’re not meant to thou… oh ok fair point,”

After everyone was comfortably in their pjs and in their own beds (James and Sirius had tried to sleep in everyone’s beds except their own, though James notable avoided yours) you all started trying to sleep. 

A while later everyone’s breathing had evened out and you knew everyone was asleep. But you just couldn’t sleep. You tried getting up to drink some water, but it didn’t work, when you flopped back down onto the bed you found out that Remus was, in fact, awake since he asked you what was wrong,  
“I don’t even know, I just can’t sleep and it’s annoying,”  
“why can’t you sleep?”  
“I don’t know, I’m not homesick and I usually find it easy to sleep but I just can’t tonight, and I hate it,”  
“Do you usually sleep with something?”  
“Yeah one of the house-elves, Knots, she’s really sweet and I just like having her around, childish I know, I just used to get scared I would turn into a monster in my sleep”  
“It’s not like I'm judging, I don’t like nights either, for the same reason,”  
“I doubt it’s for the same reason,”  
“No, it probably isn’t, and I hope it’s not. I’m assuming you haven’t turned into a monster at any point?”  
“Well, no, but James has seen my bed hair so he would say differently,”  
“Oh god, should I be scared?”  
“Uhh, probably not, but I promise you, I don’t look very good,”  
“You missing Knots?”  
“Yes, she was great, and now I won’t be able to see her for Merlin knows how long,”  
“Want to sleep in my bed then? I’ll sleep on top of the covers if you want,”  
“No, that’s fine,”  
“(y/n) you can’t sleep and your annoyed huffing every few minutes is keeping me up, so either go to sleep in your bed or sleep here, I'm not going to do anything believe it or not,”  
“You will be squished though,”  
“I’d rather be squished and asleep than go flying on a broom tomorrow and fall off because I can’t sleep now,”  
“You sure you don’t mind?”  
“yes, I'm sure,”

You quietly got up, walked the couple meters to his bed and got in. He moved as far away as he could so you would have some space and you did the same. You fell asleep in less than a minute and so did Remus who hoped he wouldn’t end up in a squished bed with his friend's sister every night for the rest of his time at Hogwarts, maybe he would need to learn how to expand a bed, or just put the beds together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 5 days, 5 chapters, I hope I'll keep this up. Comments are appreciated xx.


	6. Chocolate Milk & Rumours

You woke up the following morning at 7:30 with James yelling at you and Remus. You had gone to sleep not even touching, which was impressive of the size of the bed, but in your sleep, you had both rolled over and you had your arm around him and with your head resting a bit under his chin. It probably didn’t look even half as innocent as it was.

“REMUS, THAT IS MY SISTER, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?”  
“JAMES FOR MERLIN’S SAKE I COULDN’T SLEEP AND I WAS KEEPING HIM AWAKE. IM USED TO SLEEPING WITH KNOTS IF YOU RECALL,”  
“SO WHAT? YOU SLEEP WITH MY FRIEND?”  
“WE DIDN’T GO TO SLEEP LIKE THIS, WE FELL ASLEEP WITH OUR BACK TO EACH OTHER AND ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE MATTRESS, WHEN WE FELL ASLEEP WE WEREN’T TOUCHING”  
“HUH REALLY, BECAUSE RIGHT NOW IT REALLY DOESN’T LOOK LIKE IT,”  
“WE WERE ASLEEP AND 11 WHAT DO YOU THINK HAPPENED?”  
“I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T CARE WHAT HAPPENED YOU ARE MY FRIEND AND YOU SLEPT WITH MY SISTER AND ENDED UP CUDDLED UP WITH HER,”  
“IT’S MY LIFE JAMES, SHOVE OFF WOULD YOU?”  
“HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU SAW ME SLEEPING WITH ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS?”  
“REMUS IS MY FRIEND TOO, AND FOR THE RECORD I WOULDN’T CARE,”  
“Mate, I promise you, nothing happened, we fell asleep and woke up like this”  
“I DON’T BELIEVE YOU HONESTLY, I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU TWO RIGHT NOW,”  
“James, calm down, it’s not they would have done anything with the rest of us in the room, and I doubt they would have done anything even if we weren’t,” Sirius half yelled,  
“You stay out of this Sirius,” James retorted as he grabbed his clothes and stormed out of the room presumably to get ready. 

“Maybe I should have just stayed in my dorm,”  
“Nah, your brother just needs to pull his head in,”  
“Thanks, Sirius,”  
“Don’t mention it,”

At that, you got out of Remus’s bed and got your clothes and got dressed, same as everyone else who was still in the room. You then went to the bathroom to brush your teeth and splash your face with some water to wake you up. When you came back Sirius and Remus were waiting for you. 

“Guess the rumours about girls and bathrooms are true then, seriously how can a person need to long in there, and you didn’t even shower,”  
“I dunno just getting ready?”  
“Ok well, Peter followed James down to breakfast and since we are now annoyed at James for how he reacted we waited for you so we could go down together,”  
“So, it’s my side or James’s side?”  
“Pretty much, you coming?”  
“Definitely I’m starving,”

The three of you walked out of the dorms and down all the staircases with your bags so you could go straight from breakfast to Charms. Thankfully, James and Peter didn’t have first-class with you. Which also seemed to please Remus and Sirius.  
“I know he was mad, but James’s face this morning was priceless, I thought that vein in his forehead would pop,”  
“The vein is not as funny when you’re the one getting yelled at,”  
“You should make a habit of sleeping in other people’s bed y’know, greatly appreciated”  
“Why? So you can watch my brother lose it when his sister is in bed with his friends?”  
“Yes,”  
“Maybe I should sleep with you then, wouldn’t that be a good idea”  
“And let me get yelled at? I thought you were the nice sibling,”  
“Actually, we’re twins,”  
“Twins? but you don’t look alike,”  
“Oh, we’re fraternal twins, different eggs, so we don’t look alike,”  
“That’s just weird, it’s pretty rare isn’t it”  
“It really isn’t, it’s reasonably common, believe it or not,”  
“it is?”  
“well, it’s common for twins,”  
“Maybe all three of us should try sleep in the same bed,”  
“(y/n) I think you might just be a genius, we should do that tonight”  
“I’m probably going to be studying all night tonight, so I don’t think I’ll be sleeping much, you two can though” Remus interjected  
“What? But that isn’t fun, studying, ew, why would you do that?”  
“Sirius, studying isn’t that bad, but seriously Remus I doubt you will need to study on the first night,”  
“I disagree,”

You had just arrived at the great hall a bit after breakfast started so you all took your seats, Remus and Sirius sitting on one side of the table with you sitting across from them. As you started putting some toast onto your plate and some baked beans on said toast you saw a familiar redhead in your peripheral vision.

You looked over and smiled at Lily and Severus who were walking in together. Lily walked towards you but then realised who you were sitting with and decided to sit alone. You motioned for her to sit with you, but she shook her head and put some cereal into her bowl. About 10 minutes before class was going to start Sirius looked up,  
“Guys, James and Peter just walked in,”  
You looked to the doors and saw that the pair walked in, but instead of going to the Gryffindor table, they walked over to the Slytherin table. But they suddenly disappeared,  
“Merlin’s beard,” you muttered, why did he have to bring that cloak? Moments later Severus got soaked in a pale brown liquid, which you figured was chocolate milk. Severus let out a spluttered noise in surprise whilst people from most of the houses laughed while Severus tried to find who did it, but of course, he didn’t manage. The three of you stood up to leave because you needed to find the charms room, and when walking in you saw James and Peter walking in. James winked at Sirius practically telling him it was him that put the milk on Severus, even though you all already knew. 

You all got to class a few minutes early and decided to just wait outside,  
“I can’t believe that they did that to Severus,”  
“Why is it so surprising, he’s a right pain,”  
“No, he isn’t Sirius, what did he even do to you?”  
“Do you know who his family is?”  
“I’ve seen his mum and James said that they are pretty poor,”  
“Yeah they are, but Severus is just, he’s kinda sketchy don’t you think,”  
“No, I don’t think that,”  
“He’s just there, quiet like he wants to attack someone later on, like a fly on the wall, he can’t even wash his hair, he’s just weird. I saw him when I was getting a cauldron. He gave the impression that he isn’t a good guy,”  
“He isn’t that bad,”  
“What has he said to you that would imply he is decent?”  
“Well…”  
“Exactly, he hasn’t,”  
“He hasn’t been rude though, mostly just quiet,”  
“And paying extreme attention to everything around him?”  
“Uh yeah, so what?”  
“I don’t trust him, and someone who grew up in a house like his was,”  
“What does that mean?”  
“His father is abusive you know?”  
“How do you know that?”  
“I come from a pureblood family, pureblood parents tend to look into everyone their children will be going to school with, his mum is a pureblood from the sacred 28, she’s a Prince, but gave it all up to be with a muggle who has been abusing her and their son for ages,”  
“So you will bully someone because of their home life?”  
“I know it sounds bad, it’s hard to explain if you weren’t the one to actually get the facts yourself,”  
“regardless you shouldn’t bully someone,”  
“I’m not that nice of a person, and he just bothers me, there is something about him that I can’t place that makes me think he would watch everything burn if he could be king of the ashes,”  
“I don’t think he wants to rule anything,”  
“I don’t know what I see that you don’t but there is something that gives me a hunch that he isn’t good, that he almost deserves it, I can’t explain it, but it’s there and I can’t tell you what it is,”  
“It’s still not right,”  
“Honestly, I don’t care if it’s not right, I don’t like him,”  
You were going to argue but it must have just become 9 since Professor Flitwick came to the door to invite everyone into the room to start the lesson, even though it was just you three at that point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And another one down, what do you think? x


	7. Segregation and Integration

The room was set up in a horseshoe shape with three rows. The three of you sat in the middle room on the right. As more people filed in you realised that the Gryffindors sat on the right with you, and the Slytherins were on the right. As Lily walked in she saw you laughing with Remus and Sirius and she death glared all three of you. You were going to ask why she seemed so harsh before remembering what James and Peter had done earlier, she must have thought you were in on it. 

Once most people were there, Professor Flitwick started calling out the role. When he got to Severus’s name Lily called out in her sweet but high-pitched voice,  
“Professor?”  
“Yes, Miss?”  
“Evans, sir. Severus will be late to class as he was cruelly pranked by some first years at breakfast this morning,” you didn’t know why but something about the way she spoke seemed off. Last night she didn’t care she wasn’t in the same house as him, she seemed indifferent, now she was using a sing-song voice talking about a “cruel” prank. You agreed the prank was wrong, but it wasn’t cruel per se. You looked over at her and she met your eyes, she looked impassive and seemed happy with herself for what she said,  
“Very well, I’m sure one of you can fill him in with what he misses, though I do hope that he turns up or I will have to mark him absent,”

Once he finished with the roll he started explaining the first spell you were going to learn, levitation. He spent the entire hour and 15 explaining the exact pronunciation of Wingardium Leviosa and the precise way you must move your wand to get the desired result. You thought he could have let you practice by halfway through the lesson but by the way, some of the students were paying attention you figured that not everyone would agree if you said it out loud.

About halfway through the lesson the door opened, and Severus shuffled in and sat with the Slytherins. You offered him a small smile, but he just scowled at you. Something you knew that Sirius caught because he whispered in your telling you that he told you he wasn’t good. You just shook your head in response earning a puzzled look from Severus. You hadn’t been at Hogwarts even 24 hours and somehow you had managed to have a fight with your brother and be blamed by two friends for your brother’s pranks. 

At the end of the class, you went to transfiguration with the Ravenclaws. The lesson wasn’t as interesting as Charms was. Most of it was Professor McGonagall introducing herself as well as the topic as a whole. Explaining the need to study spells carefully before attempting them since the higher-level spells could have detrimental effects if executed incorrectly. A though which terrified you. However, in the last 20 minutes, she started explaining the first spell. It was turning a piece of parchment into a feather. You suddenly understood the need for the lecture. It was considerably more complex than Charms was. The exact wand movement was so precise, and the incantation had to have the enunciations in particular places. In charms, you could miss an enunciation without any consequences, but here, that wasn’t an option. That class gave you your first piece of homework. One piece of paper on the importance of pronunciation and exact wand movement in Transfiguration, and to look into the spell before the next lesson (page 8 of your book).

At lunch, you walked with Remus to the Great Hall since Sirius had a different class with Peter at the time. You saw where Sirius was and went over to sit with him. He was sitting just a little way down from James and Peter who were involved in what seemed to be a riveting conversation. You and Remus sat opposite Sirius and you all ate in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence, it was just that none of you were in the mood for talking, you just wanted to eat your food.

After lunch, you and Remus walked to potions. You were excited to work with him since you were sure he would be good at it. However, standing outside the room made you feel a bit fazed. The dungeons were cold, making you subconsciously move closer to Remus. Most of the Slytherins seemed to be glaring at the Gryffindors, not that that was surprising. Dungeons were for the Slytherins they probably didn’t want other houses in their part of the castle. 

“Oh, um welcome first years, now before you come in I’m sure you know there is quite a divide between Slytherins and Gryffindors, so I would like everyone to choose a partner who is from the other house. If I see two houses together I will find you a partner myself. Once you find a partner please come in and sit behind a bench. Oh, and please don’t sit too far back, I like to see all your lovely faces,” The man who you assumed was Professor Slughorn announced before walking back into the classroom that he came out of. Everyone broke apart from their friends and tried to find someone. 

Originally you thought to try and partner with Severus, before remembering that Lily would probably want to be his partner. You were looking for someone when you laid eyes on the first girl who got called yesterday for sorting. You recognised her blonde hair and enunciated facial features immediately and walked over to her. It seemed she was having some issues as it was finding someone herself,  
“Hi I’m (y/n), (y/n) Potter,”  
“Oh, Andromeda Black,” she seemed to think for a moment before taking your hand and leading you inside the room. You sat near the front and you both pulled out your books. You noticed that Lily had indeed partnered with Severus, but she seemed more interested in anything but her friend which surprised you. 

Once everyone was inside Professor Slughorn introduced himself and told you that these would be your partners for the year. If there were any serious complications you could change but you would still need to be partnered with the other house. Eventually, he wrote ‘Cure for boils’ on the board and told everyone to find out as much as they could on it. Ingredients, methods etc. you were to write a 1 and a half page essay by the next lesson with your partner, which for obvious reasons made you a bit annoyed. The next lesson was 1st class tomorrow. 

“So, would you like to look at the ingredients and I’ll do the method?” Andromeda asked,  
“Oh, yeah sure,” with that you both started working and taking notes. Throughout the lesson, you found that Andromeda was quite polite, and you would consider her a friend, you were now allowed to call or Andy or Dromeda. Despite talking to each other you were still productive and by the end of the lesson, you had finished a rough draft of the essay.  
“Do you mind if I finish this off by myself? I know it’s meant to be a group task, but I would much rather edit this by myself. I’ll still say it was both of us since you contributed so much to it but uh yeah,” she asked as you walked out of the room.  
“Yeah sure, thank you so much,”  
“It’s me who should be thanking you, anyway, see you,” with that she left, running to catch up with the rest of her friends.

You waited for Remus and the two of you walked to flying practice.  
“Andromeda is actually so sweet, I think I’m going to enjoy potions,”  
“McNair is a pain, I would rather be a dropout at this rate,”  
“Can’t be that bad,”  
“he sat there staring at the back of some girls head the entire lesson, I did everything,”  
“Oh dam, that’s just sad,”  
“Tell me about it,”

Flying lessons were average at best. You had natural talent as did James. Thing is, you didn’t like it much. It felt unnatural, felt more comfortable standing on the ground than sitting on a broom. James, wouldn’t stop zooming about the entire lesson, leaving everyone else in the dust. You ended up helping Remus onto his broom because he lacked the confidence. As you got closer to the end of the lesson you decided to try something random. You flew almost to the ground, got off, with the broom still in the air and stepped on. Somehow your feet managed to make their way into the grooves of the wood, and it felt quite secure, so you started flying. You were slow and wobbly, but thankfully no one had noticed you yet.

For the next 15 minutes, you built your confidence and found that this method of flying was faster, and you could turn more sharply.  
“MISS POTTER WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?”  
“Um, trying something, I think,”  
“HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THAT?”  
“15 or so minutes,”  
“And?”  
“It works?” Madam hooch let out a loud laugh at that and let you continue as you were until the end of the lesson.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might have gotten the standing on the broom idea from another fic which I lost. It was a Drarry one and the method of flying was called gliding, it was the method Fleur Delacour used.


	8. Spilling Secrets

“Why did Professor McGonagall decide to assign us an entire piece of parchment on this spell? I hate this,”   
“Sirius, c’mon it’s not too difficult, right Remus?”  
“Remus?” he had gone a bit pale and seemed to have a bit of a cold sweat on him. You gently shook his shoulder to get his attention,  
“Oh, um yes?”  
“You don’t look good; do you want to go to the infirmary?”  
“No, I just need to focus,”  
“Remus, at least lie-down,”  
“No, I need to get this done now,”  
“You can get it done later,”  
“No, you can get it done later, I won’t be able to do that,”  
“I was under the impression you couldn’t sleep with Sirius and me because you would be studying though? Can’t you do this as well?”  
“No, it’s a very tight schedule you see,”  
“Remus, what is going on with you?”  
“Nothing, would you leave it? Please, I will lie down when I get this done,”  
“Fine, but if you get worse I’m sending you straight to bed,” Remus rolled his eyes and you and muttered that something that sounded something along the lines of ‘yes mum’ but since you did say you would send him to bed you couldn’t blame him. 

About an hour later you were all done, and Remus looked even worse,  
“Alright that’s it, Remus, you are coming with me whether you like it or not,”  
“Fine, where are you taking me? I don’t think I even could fight you right now,”  
“I am taking you to bed, and you are staying there, Sirius and I will bring you dinner,”  
With that, you helped him up. You put his arm over your shoulder and your arm around his waist, so it didn’t look like you were keeping him up.

You got him all the way to bed and helped him out of his outer robes so that he would be more comfortable. He almost fell into the bed, he was so weak,  
“Are you ever going to tell me what’s going on with you?”  
“I will but not yet, can I get some sleep please?” his face completely melted any desire you had to get questions out of him. You nodded your head and gave him a hug before leaving. You met Sirius in the common room and the two of you walked down to dinner together. You made sure you ate enough and got some buttered bread rolls for Remus, you couldn’t see him being able to stomach more than that, and Sirius agreed with you on that. 

When you got back Remus woke with a start and looked almost feral.   
“I, I think I might go to the infirmary actually,”  
“Thank Merlin you have come to your senses, come on, let’s go,”  
“No, I have been too much of an inconvenience as is, I’ll get there myself, I’ll be fine,” The tone he used made it clear you would get nowhere on the subject so you let it go forgetting about the food that Sirius had for Remus (you didn’t want crumbs in your pockets). As soon as Remus was out of the room you ran to James’s bags and started rifling through them.  
“what are you doing?”  
“I don’t trust that Remus is going to the infirmary, but I just need to find the, YES,” you picked up the invisibility cloak and showed it off quickly. Sirius raised his eyebrows at it and you gave him a quick hug before you left.

You covered yourself in the cloak and ran just fast enough as you slipped out the portrait hole just before it closed. You managed to keep a decent distance, but you got worried when he passed right past the infirmary doors and kept walking. You followed him down the staircases all the way to the entrance. He held out his wand and muttered a spell at a moving tree. It didn’t work and he tried a couple more times before it did. The tree stopped moving and we entered a little hole in it. Again, you followed and found out it was a tunnel. It was long, dark, small and smelled like undergrowth, very wet and mouldy undergrowth. 

After an undeterminable amount of time, you both exited the tunnel, and he breathed a sigh of relief. It was at that moment you took off the cloak  
“Remus! What the hell are you doing here? How did you know about that tunnel, what is going on?”  
“(y/n) leave, please leave right now, forget about this please,”  
“No what is going on?”  
“Please I don’t want you to find out like this,”  
“This is your secret? You know secret passageways?”  
“The house isn’t the secret, (y/n) I’m the secret,”  
“What? What do you mean,”  
“I’m a werewolf, I’ll hurt you,” he mumbled,  
“Oh, that was your secret?”  
“Please don’t tell anyone, I’ll get expelled if the ministry finds out, Dumbledore is doing enough to keep everyone safe by making me go here,”  
“Remus, do you recall me telling you I had a secret?”  
“You’re one too?”  
“No, I’m not, but I can shapeshift, and werewolves only attack humans. So, I stay with you,”  
“You’ll get tired though, and I don’t want to risk it, I don’t have control over it,”  
“Remus I’ll stand by the entrance, if you look like you will hurt me I’ll go into the tunnel where you can’t reach me, alright,”  
“Fine, but promise you won’t tell?”  
“Of course not, what do you usually do on full moons?”  
“My father moved us into a cottage near a forest, I usually just go in there, getting out is hard though,”  
“You were always alone?”  
“Yes ever since I was 4,”  
“You had another werewolf until you were 4?”  
“No, that’s when I became a werewolf,”  
“Oh, Remus I’m so sorry,”  
“Don’t be, I’m used to it at this point, but could we maybe not talk about it?”  
You agreed and you just spoke of the most random topics that came to mind. Once the moon was properly in the sky he turned to face it and started panting, his head fell backwards, and his body started to distort making him scream in agony. The cries were horrible, and you wanted to hug him but you knew better. You transformed into a wolf, simply because it was funny to you and you hung back. Once he was fully transformed he made a whimpering noise. You padded over and he sniffed you, a gesture you returned simply so he wouldn’t kill you. He looked at you with the most puzzled expression. You assumed that when he was a werewolf he could remember every moment of being one, but not when he was human. So, he would be confused about why there was an animal there.

Throughout the night the both of you left the shrieking shack and into the forbidden forest to try to catch some rabbits. An idea which originally disgusted you, but you didn’t mind the idea of racing him. An hour before sunrise you had 4 rabbits, and he had 5. You just gave them all back to him since you didn’t even remotely want to eat raw rabbits. 

15 minutes before the moon disappeared you made your way back to the shrieking shack and allowed Remus to transform back into his human self. You waited outside the room because he nudged you out, apparently not wanting you in there with him at the time. Though when you heard his screams as he transformed back you understood. He half-ran out of the room, hoping that he hadn’t killed you. When he saw he hadn’t he pulled you into a bone-crushing hug and started crying.

“Hey, hey, hey why are you crying?”  
“I thought I’d killed you,”  
“You wouldn’t have, I was near the entrance, I could have kept away if it didn’t work,”  
“But I could have, a one in a million chance is still a chance,”  
“Well, I’m safe, so how about we get back to the castle before people notice we are missing,”  
“Yeah, alright,”  
You stood up then grabbed his wrist to help him up as well. He was quite weak, not that you were surprised. You picked up the cloak and you made your way back through the tunnel.

The castle was beautiful in the morning light and the two of you managed to sneak all the way back to the tower. You were both thankful that you had managed to get back unnoticed especially since there were probably a couple early risers somewhere. You told the fat lady the password and she swung open. You went through the portrait hole with smiles on your faces and laughing quietly until you came face to face with Sirius, half asleep with black rings under his eyes.

“where were you both? You left Remus, (y/n) followed and neither of you came back, I went to the hospital wing, but madam Pomfrey said that neither of you showed up. I went around the castle for the next 20 minutes until curfew then stayed in the common room waiting for you to come back,”  
“Sirius,” you started,  
“It doesn’t matter where we were Sirius,”  
“It does matter, you both just vanished, (y/n) will you tell me?”  
“I want to but it’s more Remus’s thing to share, not mine,”  
“Remus?”  
“I’m not telling you if it helps I didn’t know she was following me, or I wouldn’t have told her either,”  
“I can’t believe you, Remus,” Sirius muttered as he walked back to your room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the secrets didn't feel too forced, but hey that's fine. Did you notice my song reference? Comments appreciated xx


	9. Broken Trust & Lunch Invitations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it. Comments appreciated xx

You and Remus quickly followed after Sirius, not just because you wanted to apologise but because you were both dead tired and breakfast was in a couple of hours.

“Sirius, please don’t be mad at me,”  
“Oh c’mon (y/n) of course I’m not mad at you, I’m annoyed at Remus. What kind of secret do you have that could possibly be this dam big?”  
“It doesn’t matter, could you please leave it?”  
“Definitely not, do I look like the kind of person who would just drop it?”  
“I suppose not, but I really just want you to leave it,”  
“OK, both of you, drop it, continue this later when all of us have had some sleep,”  
“I don’t like the sound of that,”  
“Well, nothing will be solved when you are about to fall asleep and you’re antsy,”  
“Fine, but I am not dropping this,”  
You rolled your eyes and got into your bed  
“(Y/n)?”  
“Yeah, what is it Sirius?”  
“wanna sleep in my bed and annoy James,”  
“Haha, sounds good,”  
You got out of your bed and got into Sirius’s and you both fell asleep quickly, as did Remus who was in the next bed over.

“No, no, no,”  
“What is it (y/n)?”  
“It’s 8:55, we aren’t dressed or even half ready, and class starts in five minutes,”  
There was a simultaneous ‘dammit’ and you all pulled on your school robes and grabbed your books, dashing out of the common room full speed. In doing so no one’s hair or teeth were brushed and you ended up wearing someone else’s shirt since it wasn’t your size, whilst Remus was wearing a shirt that was too small, so it was probably yours, and Sirius wasn’t bothered and just had his robe covering himself, hoping that would be enough.

You arrived at potions a few minutes late and quickly took your seat,  
“Oh (y/n), Sirius and Remus, I was beginning to think you wouldn’t be joining us,”  
“We slept in professor,” Sirius called out as he took his seat.  
“Very well, now then ingredients are in the storeroom. Usually, you will be brewing potions by yourself but today I think it would be a good idea for you to brew with your partner so you can accustom yourself with the craft. Now then, let the brewing commence,”  
Andromeda got up to get the ingredients whilst you set up the workstation. 

When Andromeda returned you started crushing the snake fangs in the mortar and pestle whilst she got the cauldron to the correct temperature. You added 4 measures of the crushed fangs and left it for ten seconds on 250°. After you dropped the temperature she added 4 horned slugs and you took it off the cauldron to add the porcupine quills. She then stirred the potion 5 times. 

After decanting the potion and giving it to Professor Slughorn you were both excused with another pair potions assignment. Having half an hour until Defense against the dark arts next you both decided to go to the library to start on the homework.  
“I’m studying with my sisters at lunch. After to you get something to eat would like to join us? We can finish off this essay and then do some other homework.”  
“Oh, that sounds great, thank you,”  
“Anytime, by the way the one with black hair is Bellatrix and the black and blonde one is Narcissa, they’ll probably let you use a nickname but just call them that the first time,”  
“Alright, at least I won’t be addressing them as Miss black and Miss Black,”  
“Oh my god that would be so tedious, but it would be funny as anything,”  
“Agreed, also why did you want to do the essay by yourself yesterday?”  
“I was going to get ‘Cissa to help structure it a bit more,”  
“Well, I hope we get an A on it then,”  
“We probably will, she’s top of most of her classes, except for transfiguration, girl can’t turn a rat into a goblet,”  
“It’s not like we can either,”  
“Yeah but that’s a standard spell for second years, and we’ve only been here a day and a half,”  
“But the way I put it, we are on the same level as a top second year student,”  
“You are terrible, absolutely terrible,”  
“Oh, you flatter me so,”  
“why were you late this morning anyway?”  
“Oh, we slept in,”  
“Don’t you sleep in the girls dorm?”  
“I’m supposed to, but I’m in a group with four boys, with a spare bed. Take a guess what I did,”  
“Makes sense, but you will get in so much trouble if anyone found out you will be in so much trouble,”  
“Yeah I know, and I already managed to make my brother mad with me,”  
“What did you do?”  
“Slept in the same bed as one of the guys,”  
“What! Girl, what were you thinking?”  
“I was thinking, he will kill me if I don’t go to sleep, and im not gonna be able to sleep in my bed,”  
“What on earth?”  
“I couldn’t sleep, and I was keeping him up cuz I was sighing and rolling around a lot. So he told me to sleep in my bed, but if I just couldn’t to just sleep with him so he could sleep,”  
“Oh my god, that is too funny,”  
“It wasn’t in the morning when James started screaming bloody murder about us sleeping together, in our sleep we ended up cuddling, so it really didn’t look good,”  
“I’m not even surprised it was you of all people who managed to do that,”  
“What is that supposed to mean?”  
“Oh, nothing, absolutely nothing,”  
“I don’t believe you,”  
“huh, maybe you should,”  
“You are insufferable,”  
“oh, am I really? Guess I’ll have to live up to that,”  
“Don’t you dare,”  
By that point you had reached the library and you made your way to one of the tables near the back. You set out your work and you both made as many notes as you could about each stage of the process, the colour, the smell how much it bubbled, when it was thick, or thin.  
By the time the bell rang you had each covered a piece of parchment is messy notes. 

“Still wanna study with my sisters and me?”  
“Of course,”  
“Do you have Defence with me now by any chance?”  
“Oh um, yeah actually I do,” you said as you checked your timetable  
“Brilliant, after you milady,”  
“Why thankyou kind lady,” with that you left the library in fits of laughter. You walked into the classroom still laughing, drawing strange looks from Remus, James, Lily and Severus, all your friends in the class.

“Girls if you would please take your seats, you can sit together if you want but please don’t be disruptive, three to a table”  
“Yes professor,” you both chorused. You decided to lead Andromeda over to the two spare seats next to Remus. You gestured for her to join you and after Remus shrugged she sat down. 

“Good morning first years and welcome to your first defence against the dark arts lesson,  
my name is Professor Evana Dowling. I was an Aura in America until I had a nasty run in with a chimaera, which stopped me from being able to do my job due to my injuries, hence why I am now here, to teach you. You may have heard from your older siblings that defence is usually taught in pairs, one on the offence, one on defence. I think teaching in threes is more beneficial as I cannot watch all of you at one and give pointers. When we do practicals, there will be one on offence and defence, the last person will be on the sideline and help the other two as they watch them and can see what can be improved. Of course, you will rotate often,”

The often went in a similar fashion and you started looking at ‘expelliarmus’. It was an interesting enough class and Professor Dowling made the content reasonably interesting considering the work was quite dry in nature. Dromeda and Remus both seemed a little on edge near each other for the first half an hour but eventually seemed to accept the other’s presence. At the end of the lesson you all needed to have read the first half of the chapter on the disarming spell, taken notes, and analysed what you had read. 

You and Remus left as Andromeda went to the library. You told her you would bring some food for all of you which she thanked you for and went to the library.  
“What was that about?”  
“I’m studying with her and her sisters,”  
“Pureblood ranks huh? Good luck surviving in the deep end,”  
“Come off it Remus, besides it’ll be nice to have friends other than you and Sirius,”  
“What about Severus and Lily?”  
“They think I was in on the prank, remember? Anyway see you in Charms!”  
“Yeah, see ya,” he responded as you walked away, a small frown appearing on his face.


	10. Late Night Escapades

You walked as quickly as you could with your bag hitting your thigh with every step. You were strangely excited to study with your friend and her sisters. There was something about them that gave you an odd feeling. When you saw them on the first night you thought it was just because they were a couple years above, rich, and quite beautiful. But you couldn’t see them now, and you wanted to meet them. The intricately carved oak doors to the library approached steadily and before long you were pushing them open. You made your way through the towering stacks to find ‘Dromeda and after a minute or so you found her. She was seated at a table with Bellatrix to her left. To Bellatrix’s left was a man who looked to be in a couple years older than yourself and seated in his lap was Narcissa. 

“Oh, (y/n) I’m glad you found us. Our table was taken as you probably noticed. Anyway, this is Bellatrix, Narcissa, and this is Lucius,” you nodded your head to each of them as you were introduced and you, in turn, introduced yourself.  
“Pleasure to meet you (y/n). Andy told me you brought food?”  
“Lucius! Is there ever anything on your mind other than food?”  
“My dear, more often than not, my mind rests on schoolwork. When I get a break, I fill the time picturing all the delectable foods I could eat,”  
“What about me though? Do I not have the pleasure of being in your conscious thought,”  
“You are in my mind when I go to sleep, and when I wake up,”  
“You two are disgusting, utterly repulsive, if you continue I may have to excuse myself to vomit in the bathrooms,”  
“That’s a vulgar way of putting it Bella,”  
“It may be vulgar, Andy, but not nearly as much as their conversation,”  
“Guys, this really is not what i envisioned for (y/n) meeting you,”  
“Pray tell dear sister, what did you envision?”  
“Polite introductions, allowance to call one another by nicknames perhaps, actual study and not conversations that have not so innocent undertones, that lead to one of my sisters making utterly repulsive comments about vomiting,”  
“Very well, (y/n) you may address me as Narcissa or Cissa if you are so inclined, you can call her, Bellatrix, Bella or Trix. Though if you choose the latter, don’t call her that in public, not particularly proper, I’m sure you understand. Now let’s eat and study, shall we?”  
“Thank you, Cissa,” with that you pulled the food out of your bag and placed it on the table along with your quills and ink. 

You spent the entirety of lunch chatting, working and eating. It was quite enjoyable, very different to what you were used to though. You were used to people talking normally, the Black sisters, however, tended to speak quite formally. It was a point you would question Dromeda about when you got to class. 

At no point during the lunchtime study session did you notice your brother or Peter watching from behind a bookshelf. You also didn’t see the death glares that were sent towards everyone sitting at the table, including yourself. Everyone felt like they were being watched, but the library was quite full, so you thought it was many people glancing at you in passing.

Charms was particularly uneventful. You were made to practice the levitation charm and once you did so you had to write an essay on the challenges. A couple students managed it but most did not, yourself included. Which meant you had even more homework. Not that you had much in the first place though. 

After dinner that night you were sitting with Remus by the fire, Sirius was sitting opposite you, talking only to you. You attempted to include Remus but Sirius made it so he couldn’t contribute. Eventually he gave up and read whilst you and Sirius chatted. Lily was at a desk getting some work done when James and Peter came sauntering in.  
“No need to thank us, but I have just made it clear to the Slytherin scum which is the superior house,” James announced to the entire common room.  
“And prey tell dear brother, how did you do this? Did you drag my name into it again like you did at breakfast yesterday with the chocolate milk?”  
“I thought you would have appreciated being attached to that. Regardless, I sent that Snape kid flying down the stairs to the dungeons,”  
“James!” you and lily both yelled  
“What possessed you to do that?”  
“He was in my way, I did what was necessary,”  
“You’re right foul, you know that don’t you,”  
“I would say im brilliant, but I guess that’s another way of putting it,”  
“Ugh, c’mon Lils,” you said as you grabbed her hand and dragged her towards the portrait hole. You had about half an hour to find Severus, make sure he was alright then get back to the common room. You were definetly cutting it fine, but you and lily where taking the stairs two at a time and running so that did help.

You ran down the several flights of stairs towards the dungeons when you heard some very laboured breathing and some grunts. You and Lily took off towards the sounds, which were clearly coming from Severus. You found him at the bottom of a staircase that wasn’t too common, so most people wouldn’t have noticed. The items in his bag were sprawled out across the floor and his left leg was bleeding badly. There were tears streaming down his face as he was holding onto the bannister trying to get himself standing. 

As you sat next to Severus it was clear that his leg was broken, it was bent at an odd angle and you could see some white where the injuries were.  
“Lils, get his stuff in his bag, then help me. We need to get him to the hospital wing, I think his leg is broken,” she did exactly as you said without complaint and you helped to hoist him up so his weight was resting on his good leg and he had an arm slung over one of your shoulders. You began to make the slow ascent up to the hospital wing. You knew it was getting closer and closer to curfew but you doubted you would get in trouble for getting Severus to the hospital wing. 

By the time you got to the hospital wing it had just hit curfew and Madam Pomfrey was about to finish cleaning up. You stumbled through the doors with Severus slipping in and out of consciousness from the blood and moaning in pain. You had a strong hunch that your robes, as well as Lily’s were drenched in blood from the knee down. Madam Pomfrey rushed over to you and cast a spell on Severus. From what you could tell it was just a very powerful levitation charm. She levitated him onto one of the spare beds and after making him pass out she turned to you and Lily,  
“Please return to your dormitories girls, if Mr. Filch catches you tell him to talk to me and I will explain. As for you helping that young man, 10 points, to each of you, goodnight,” you both bade her goodnight and left. Even though you had permission to be out you were both trying to be as quiet as possible. 

After re-entering the Griffindor common room you saw James, Sirius, Peter and Remus all sitting together. They seemed to have forgiven each other and you walked over, sitting next to Remus. Lily, on the other hand, gave James and Peter a nasty death glare for what they did. Not that they minded in the slightest,  
“y’know that Evans girl is kinda attractive,”  
“James she’s my friend,”  
“Not like siblings friends is a barrier for you sister deartest,”  
“If you recall Remus and I aren’t dating,”  
“And I’m not dating Lily,”  
“Anyway, I take it you aren’t mad at Remus and me anymore?”  
“Well I am a bit, but at the same time, hes my friend, you’re my sister and we share a room. Can’t stay mad for too long can I?” with that you walked over and gave him the biggest hug before sitting down next to Remus again. 

You were all talking way into the night. An hour after you returned from the hospital wing you moved to the dorm so you wouldn’t get in trouble for being too loud. You were sitting on Remus’s bed with him. Sirius was on his bed by himself and James and Peter were acting like idiots on James’s bed. After a while you found it harder and harder to keep your eyes open. After a few minutes like that you ended up falling asleep, resting on Remus.

As soon as everyone noticed James’s face became instantly angered. Sirius started wiggling his eyebrows at Remus and Peter just looked embarrassed. Remus tried to look uncomfortable but in all actuality he was happy. You were asleep, placing all your trust in him by falling asleep on him. Especially since you were still sitting up. Everyone decided that it was a good time to try to sleep so Peter went back to his bed and Remus lay down. Moving in such a way that you wouldn’t be disturbed. He then moved you, so you were partially lying on him, with his arm around you. It was one of the best sleeps either of you had had in a while.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And we are a group again. Comments appreciated xx


	11. Walks, Discussions & Accusations

The following morning you once again woke up cuddled up with Remus. However, in contrast to the other morning James wasn’t yelling. He was in bed asleep, just as everyone else was. When you moved to see if everyone was awake you accidentally woke Remus.  
“Good morning sleepy head,” he muttered  
“You’re more asleep than I am, look at yourself,”  
“I didn’t fall asleep on my friends shoulder last night,”  
“Oh, Merlin did I really do that?”  
“Got a bit of a death glare from your brother but, oh well, all in a day’s work,”  
“God I am so sorry Remus, I didn’t intend to do that,”  
“Clearly, if you had you probably would have laid down first,”  
“Tired me really didn’t think it through huh?”  
“No, you didn’t, but it’s fine. Sirius was right, James’s angry face is quite funny,”  
“You are utterly terrible Remus Lupin, utterly terrible,”  
“Yeah, yeah sure I am,” he whispered in your ear as he sat up. “(y/n)?”  
“Mhm?”  
“Why did you wake me at the absolute crack of dawn?”  
“I did? Oh, I dunno I just woke up,”  
“I swear, you will be the death of me,”  
“How can you say that? I would never kill you, that much I can promise,”  
“Dude, I’m kidding, you don’t need to convince me of that,” he said, getting out of bed to find his uniform. You, however, lay back down to go back to sleep.  
“(y/n), wake up. You are not waking me then sleeping again, c’mon get up,”  
“Fine, there, I’m up, I’m standing,” you mocked  
“Get dressed, unless you want to turn up to class in your pyjamas,”  
“Very well, what else must I do to please you this fine sunrise?”  
“Honestly? If you could stop talking like that, it’d be great,”  
“Oh c’mon, I’m just having fun over here,” he rolled his eyes and walked out of the room to get ready and you did the same.

When you came back, Remus took your hand and dragged you out of Gryffindor despite saying you didn’t have your bag. He dragged you through the halls, down the stairs and to the entrance hall. He pulled you outside and started walking towards the lake. You walked together in silence for a while just observing the lake. As you were walking back into the castle you saw Professor McGonagall walking towards you both. 

“Ahh Mr Lupin, Miss Potter, Professor Dumbledore wishes to see you,”  
“Are we in trouble Professor?”  
“He didn’t tell me why he needed you both, but he made it clear it was reasonably urgent,”  
You both followed her to Dumbledores office completely nervous and having no idea what you were going to do if you got expelled this soon after starting school. Your parents would be livid, James wouldn’t stop going on about it for the rest of your lives. You could be destined to spend the rest of your life as a squib. Tears started to well in your eyes as you got closer and it looked like Remus was having the same idea. However, instead of crying he just looked utterly terrified. When he saw you he gave you a handkerchief to wipe your eyes before you got there. Professor McGonagall said the password and you walked up to Dumbledores office. 

“Oh good, I was worried Minerva couldn’t find you,” You must have both looked absolutely terrified because he chuckled before continuing, “calm down, neither of you are being expelled. Please, take a seat,” it was if he had read your minds, but you sat in the chairs infront of his desk,  
“Do either of you have any idea why you’re here?” you shook your head as a response,  
“Is it because she came with me on the full moon?”  
“Quite right Remus, you put Miss Potter, (y/n) if I may,” you nodded your head to allow him to call you by your name, “in considerable danger that night,”  
“Professor Dumbledore, he didn’t ask me to come, he told me he was going to the hospital wing, I didn’t believe him, and I followed him,”  
“How did you follow without him noticing,”  
“I um, I had an invisibility cloak,”  
“Where did you acquire this cloak? Was it from one of the older students?”  
“No sir, it’s a family heirloom, I got it out of James’s trunk, he brought it but it’s for both of us to use when necessary, like late night trips to the library,”  
“Yes that does sound like your parents, your father in particular, regardless, you should not have done so, you placed yourself in danger, and if anything had happened I wouldn’t have had a choice but to expel Remus and put his future in jeopardy,”  
“But I can shapeshift! Werewolves only hurt humans, not animals,”  
“Are you telling me you’re an Animagus? An unregistered Animagus?”  
“No, I can become any animal, like in that fairy tale,”  
“I see, if that is the case then I will allow you to go with Remus in future if you so wish, however, it is not an expectation and should not be taken as one. Now, how are you both finding your studies?”  
“Quite interesting,” Remus responded quickly,  
“Ahh ok, and (y/n), I have been informed by a couple teachers that you seem to be close friends with miss black?”  
“Yes professor,” something in his eyes twinkled, as if he was figuring out the next move in chess,  
“Very well, I will let you both get back to your friends, however I would like to have these little chats after each time you transform Remus just to make sure everything is still going swimmingly. I would like you to attend as well (y/n),” you both nodded in ascent and left his office. 

As soon as you were back in the hallways you let out a breath you hadn’t realised you had been holding. You made your way to breakfast to see the rest of the guys were already there and chatting. Sitting down next to Sirius you noticed James shooting daggers at Remus,  
“So, where were you two sneaking off to at the crack of dawn?”  
“Calm down James, we went for a walk so we wouldn’t wake anyone,”  
“And that walk took you this long?”  
“James, leave her alone, we weren’t making out or anything, we aren’t dating, how many times do we need to go over this?”  
“You spend an entire night together away from the dorm, you sleep in the same bed, you leave the dorm at dawn, what else would I think?”  
“James! You are my brother! You must be able to tell that I’m not dating him,”  
“Honestly (y/n) I don’t know what to think anymore, I didn’t think you would, I mean, it’s Remus, but I guess I was wrong,”  
“We aren’t dating, want it in Latin? Non sumus in necessitudo,”  
“You speak Latin?”  
“mum and dad made us learn when we were younger, said it would be useful, this is my only use for it. Do you believe me now James?”  
“Fine,”

When you looked up you saw Severus staring at lily from across the hall. Madam Pomfrey must have healed his leg pretty easily. Though it was a little unnerving seeing him stare at her. Even though it was a bit creepy, you wanted someone to look at you like that, with complete and utter longing. That was when your face fell, and you realised it. Severus Snape had a crush on Lily Evans. 

“I take it you noticed the git’s got a crush on Lily then?” James asked,  
“Yes I did,”  
“Imagine Lily choosing a guy like him,”  
“you have a crush on her as well James,”  
“At least I’m not a disgusting Slytherin,”  
“At least he didn’t break someone’s leg,”  
“Oh, I thought we did worse, must be a real pussy,”  
“James!”  
“Guys what do you say we pay Snape a lil’ visit tonight?”  
“You will do no such thing,”  
“Oh, we will, don’t you worry little sister,”  
“I’m older James”  
“I thought you were twins,”  
“I came out first,”  
“Anyway, we really must be getting to class soon. We brought you your bags for you by the way, so you don’t have to go all the way back to the dorm to get them,” you Sirius and Remus all left together towards the greenhouses for your first herbology lesson.

When you arrived, you saw Lily and quickly went up to her to tell her that James wanted to ‘prank’ Severus again. She thanked you before returning to her conversation with Marlene, Alice and some other girl. You knew they were talking about your or your group because they kept glancing at you all throughout the lesson. It annoyed you and Remus, but Sirius seemed to almost bask in the attention he was getting from them. Not that that surprised you, after all you had a hunch that Sirius was going to be quite the flirt as time went on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At least James is looking out for you, in his own way haha. Comments appreciated xx


	12. End of Term 1

The first couple of months at Hogwarts passed by in the blink of an eye. You quickly found a routine and you got on top of your studies whilst still having a couple groups of friends. On Mondays and Thursdays, you would study with Trix, Cissa, Lucius and Andy at lunch in the library near the back windows where you could look out onto the Scotland landscape. They all seemed to enjoy having you around. You became surprisingly close with Bellatrix. Her wild hair and defined jawline made her stand out in a crowd. Her witty comebacks and strong beliefs made her interesting. You spent most of your study time discussing homework or listening to her talk to you about blood supremacy. You disagreed with her views on some things. You agreed that pure blood was better, mainly because it increased the volume of magic in the blood and you believed it made you stronger and better magically. However, you believed it was still important to have diversity within magical society. The both of you also found dark magic intriguing. It wasn’t uncommon for you and Bellatrix to read or reread one of the few books the library had on the subject. 

On Fridays after classes, you would study with Severus and Lily under one of the trees near the Black lake. Though you always felt like the odd one out. Severus and Lily had been friends for years and even though they both liked having you around you could tell Severus would have preferred for it to just be them. You couldn’t blame him though, it was your brother, after all, who caused him so much pain almost daily, and with his crush on lily (which she seemed completely oblivious to) it wasn’t a surprise he was a bit colder towards you. Lily was always trying to include you. She would make daisy chains and place them on your head whilst you and Severus worked on your assignments, she would pull you into her embrace often and would joke around with you. It was almost sad how much she would ignore Severus when you were all together. She would only talk to him if she was asking for help. 

The rest of the time you spent with the Marauders. You became increasingly close with Remus over this period of time, much to James’s annoyance. You continued sleeping in the same bed, sometimes joined by Sirius when James was in a particularly bad mood. On a couple occasions you helped James create pranks he could pull on large groups of people, whilst refusing to help with the ones designed for Severus. You found the flaws in his plans and improved them, resulting in the main staircase becoming a slide between classes, Slughorn’s hair growing rather long, and purple, as well as your favourite, the time you convinced the house elves to serve only desserts for dinner. 

You and Remus went to Dumbledore after the next transformation to discuss what had happened the previous night. He chuckled when he found out you decided to bring dog toys, and properly laughed when he discovered werewolf version of Remus enjoyed playing with them. He discussed your growing friendship with the Black sisters and your overall studies. You left that discussion with a couple of lemon drops. 

“Guys we only have a week left until holidays!”  
“Thank you for reminding me of my impending doom,”  
“C’mon Sirius, I know you don’t like your family, but you can just stay at our house for an extended sleepover,”  
“You know that won’t work, they’ll say I need to spend more time with the family,”  
“Well, you can come over from time to time at least,”  
“I doubt it, but I might be able to,”  
“I can owl mum later and ask if she would mind,”  
“Yes, please do that, though I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to,”  
“Can’t hurt to ask anyway,”  
“Thanks (y/n) James probably would have suggested sticking me in his trunk, with all his disgusting unwashed clothes and underwear,”  
“I will do my best to save you from that horrendous fate,” you mocked  
“Have you been near his trunk recently?”  
“Yes I put a shield around it, simply so I don’t have to smell it,”  
“You did?”  
“Yeah, I don’t think he has a clue though, which is just concerning,”  
“Maybe he can’t smell,”  
“Perhaps, but I don’t want to test it, might make for something amusing in potions,”  
“You really are an evil genius,” the bell rang to signal the end of Flying. You both rushed to the courtyard where James told you to meet because he supposedly had a brilliant plan. When you arrived you saw him looking particularly sly.

“Would you like to hear my latest idea?”  
“Who are you killing?”  
“Preferably Snape, but that isn’t what I have figured out, yet”  
“You really are insufferable James,”  
“Anyway, I have figured out the perfect way to make Lily fall in love with me, I just need to get some time alone with her,”  
“And then what? You find out you’re two halves of the same whole? You have so much in common? That you get along like a house on fire and she will instantly become yours?”  
“Yes, that was pretty much the plan,”  
“James, she is so dissimilar to you, she’s mature, smart, polite, kind. You go around harassing her best friend, never doing your homework, acting like a goof. You need to grow up before shell see you as anything more than a friend at best, an enemy at worst, and you’re closer to being an enemy than a friend,”  
“(y/n) you underestimate my abilities. I will make her fall in love with me,”  
“love when you’re 11 rarely lasts though,”  
“It will last, I’m sure of it,”  
“Can we go inside at least? I’m freezing out here, why did you choose to have a conversation in the middle of the snow?”  
“It felt more magical, we’re magical, love’s magical, y’know,” you rolled your eyes and walked towards the great hall to get some hot chocolate. 

When you arrived, you didn’t see Severus sitting by himself, at the end of Slytherin table closest to the door reading with a book in his hands, but James did. You didn’t see James take a detour towards him, but Sirius did. You didn’t see James take out his wand ready to practice a spell he saw, but Peter did. You saw James cast the spell though, but not until it was too late. A blue light came out of the tip of James’s wand. A large stream of water burst from it in a graceful arc. It was so cold you could see some of it crystalizing. It landed right on Severus. But the water kept coming out of his wand. James couldn’t stop it and Severus was sputtering loudly. You ran over and took the wand you tried ‘finite incantatum’ but it didn’t work. You tried another spell and it proved hopeless. 

Professor McGonagall came over and took the wand, with a swish the stream of water ended.  
“JAMES POTTER WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?” James started to respond as you ran over to Severus. He was shaking and incredibly cold to the touch. You quickly took off your jacket and put it around him. You used your scarf to try dry his hair and grabbed him a new hot chocolate as his old one had become extremely diluted. 

“20 house points Potter and detention with me every night until the holidays, and three weeks after you return. My office, 8pm. Weekends included,” You heard McGonagall’s voice yell.  
“But Professor,”  
“No buts. What you did was a disgrace to the name of Gryffindor house. Consider me lenient this time, next time you will not be so lucky,”  
“Or what? I’ll get two months?”  
“You will get detention with Hagrid,”  
“He is more relaxed than you though, he’d probably make me just,”  
“Detention with him means going into the forbidden forest, every night for a month,” James eyes noticeably widened at that, they looked like they were going to come out of his head. Earning a small chuckle from you. 

Severus got up and gave you your jacket back before leaving. You then went back to your group to see a very angry James.  
“You’re always mad at something aren’t you James. Whether it’s how close I am with Remus, your results, Lily not falling for you, getting in trouble,”  
“Shove off (y/n)” he muttered as he stalked off. You smiled back at him as the rest of you began to follow him. Sirius talking to Peter, and you chatting with Remus with his arm over your shoulder. 

“(y/n)?  
“yeah?”  
“Wanna come over to my place at some point during the holidays?”  
“Yeah that sounds great, why you asking me so quietly though,”  
“My dad said he only wants one of my friends coming over,”  
“How am I supposed to hide this from James?”  
“You’re smart, you will figure it out,”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of term 1 :). Comments appreciated xx


	13. Correspondence

Dear (y/n),

My father has said that he is happy for you to come over some time during the next week and is also happy for you to stay the night if you want. (Even though we have a version of a sleepover pretty much every night at school). I hope you figured out what to tell James, and I look forward to finding out what ridiculous story you come up with.

Remus

\----------

You chuckled at the letter, you had, in fact had a few ideas about what you could say you were doing. Your main ideas were saying you were going to Lily’s or Andromeda’s. issue with the latter was that since andromeda and Sirius were cousins, and they were part of the Black family, he would quickly find out it was a complete lie. Alternatively, you could say you were going to a childhood friend’s place, Amy. Her and James had never gotten on, so he was unlikely to ask and questions. Yes, you were going to see Amy.

“Father?”  
“Yes darling what is it?”  
“Can I sleep over at Remus’s someday next week?”  
“Of course, you can, isn’t he one of the boys in your group? The one who’s room you gate crashed who James is half convinced you are dating?”  
“Yes father, that would be him,”  
“Is James going to come to me later and ask to go to this boy’s house later?”  
“His father said he could only have one friend over during the holidays, so if you could back me up when I say I’m going to Amy’s that would be great,”  
“How long did it take you to come up with that excuse for James?”  
“Not long, maybe half an hour, but I was doing some reading at the same time so it’s not like I devoted all my time to it,”  
“Very well, would you like to go over on Wednesday? I would like you home by midday at the latest,”  
“Thank you father,” you said giving him a hug.  
“What are you thanking your father for,”  
“Ahh Euphemia, eavesdropping are we?”  
“Good lord Fleamont I was asking a question,”  
“Father said I can sleep over at my friend’s house next Wednesday night, but James isn’t coming so we are saying I’m going over to Amy’s,”  
“Yes that sounds about right, that sounds like fun,” your mother said as she began to walk away.

\----------

Dear Remus, 

Mother and father said they are fine with me coming over, next week. Does Wednesday through to Thursday work? I told them to tell James I would be at my friend Amy’s house for the night, (she is a friend from when I was 8 and her and James never got on). I’m afraid it isn’t exactly ridiculous but anything ridiculous would have been a bit too suspicious if I do say so myself, so Amy’s house it is.

(y/n)

\----------

Dear (y/n),

That sounds great, come over any time after 10 

Remus

\----------

Dear (y/n),

This letter is for you and James, but if I sent it to James I’m scared I would get a letter in response that was more about the perfections of Lily, than a response to my letter. Anyway, would you and James like to catch up at some point this week? I sent the same letter to Remus, I’m thinking this Friday, then maybe the Friday after that. So, we can all meet up twice during a two week. Also, this Friday is Christmas eve so we can have an early Christmas celebration as friends. 

Please respond quickly because I’m quite impatient  
Sirius

\----------

Dear Sirius, 

I’ve spoken with my parents and James (who is quite offended by your reasoning for sending me the letter, though my parents found it hilarious) and they said that the dates sound fine. Though my parents were wondering if your brother and parents would be joining us because they are adamant about having a present for everyone in attendance. Typical pure blood things, I’m sure you know what I mean considering you live in a similar household to mine in that way. Though my parents are laxer about blood status diversity among civilised witches and wizards. I hope this was a fast enough response for you.

(y/n)

\----------

Dearest (y/n),

I am writing to invite you to Black Manor next Monday at 11:30 am for a brunch and tea. After that perhaps you would like to stay a while with my sisters and myself for a few hours before returning home. Perhaps you would like to stay for dinner as well and if you can spare the time 

Yours, Andromeda Black

\----------

Dear Andromeda,

That sounds like a great idea. I would love to come over next Monday at 11:30 and would be happy to stay the night. Thank you for inviting me, and please thank your parents for me as well.

Yours, (y/n)

\----------

Dear (y/n),

Hey Girlie how’s your holidays going? Is James being completely insufferable again. Ugh he’s so dam annoying haha. Sevy and I are fine, tho I haven’t seen him in a few days and I’m getting a bit worried. We agreed to meet every day or every second day for a few minutes at the park just to say hi, y’know that kinda thing. But I haven’t seen him in a couple days. Anyway, wanna sleep over at mine at some point? Your probably super busy with all your friends so how about Saturday at 8am you come over to mine, you spend the night and go home at 11:59pm Sunday night. Haha I doubt your parents would let that happen. But 10 Sat to 4/5pm Sunday would be goals girly. Honestly I need someone to talk to right now. Petunia won’t stop calling me a freak and locking me in my room when my parents are asleep or out, ugh. Love ya <3 

Lils

\----------

Dear Lils,

My holidays are pretty good. I have been pulling pranks on James, he thinks he is haunted by the Grim (you did not hear this from me). When did you start calling him Sevy? That is quite possibly the worst nickname I could have ever found for him, makes him sound like a pet owl or something. Anyway, my parents said they are happy for me to come over. Only thing is that we are doing a Christmas brunch so I will only be able to come over sometime around 12/12:30pm. If you want I can scare the crap out of Petunia, I could become a massive spider above her bed if you want. It would be utterly hilarious, don’t you think? Anyway, can’t wait to see you!

(y/n)

\----------

“So, kids, you both have rather busy schedules don’t you? You got in a few days before people started demanding your presence huh?” your dad started when everyone was beginning to finish their dinner.  
“Fleamont, you make it sound like they’re doing something wrong,”  
“We need to go to Diagon Alley tomorrow to get presents for everyone by the way,”  
“Oh, (y/n), you’re completely correct. I think you can go tomorrow, and James can go the day after, and the day after you go to Sirius’s. I just know something will go wrong if you go together,”  
“Nothing happened last time,”  
“Nothing happened? Your brother found a group of boys that you share a room with, one of which you sleep with, who play pranks and most of which aren’t focused on their studies. To top it all off he made some heinous comments at that woman. I will not allow you to go together for quite some time yet,”  
“SHE DESERVED IT THOUGH,”  
“JAMES do not raise your voice, especially at the dinner table. She did not deserve it, especially not somewhere so public. It looks bad for your father and myself. The matter is final (y/n) you will go to Diagon Alley tomorrow via the flu network. James you will go on Thursday,” James rolled his eyes before leaving the table. You were about to stand up when your father gently grabbed your wrist,  
“You know, being by yourself it might be a good idea to have as escort,” he whispered. When you looked at him he winked, and you smiled. He nudged his head to the side, and you left the dining room. Now you had a reason to see Remus even sooner.

\----------

Dear Remus,

I need to get some Christmas presents for family and friends. I was wondering if you would like to come with me. I’d be getting to the Leaky Cauldron around 10:30, and my parents didn’t give me a set time to get back by. If you can’t make it that’s completely fine and I understand. 

(y/n)

\---------

Dear (y/n),

Your owl scared the absolute hell out of me. I had just gotten out of the shower, at 10pm and a deranged bird starts trying to break my window. I screamed so loud and so high pitched my dad thinks I’m a girl. That sounds great though, I’ll see you then.

Remus


	14. Christmas Shopping

You were sitting at one of the back tables in the Leaky Cauldron. You had gotten there ten minutes early so that Remus wouldn’t be waiting. It was pretty bad manners to invite someone somewhere and turn up after them after all. You had been waiting for maybe five minutes when one of the Floos came to life and outstepped Remus. His hair was scruff, his clothes a tad loose, but they suited him. You jumped off the stool you were on, forgetting about your butter beer and gave him a hug. 

“You ready to go?” you asked, to which he just nodded in reply with a sheepish smile on his face. You grabbed his hand and pulled him out into Diagon alley.  
“Who do you need presents for?”  
“Uh, you, Sirius, James, Peter and my dad,”  
“what about your mum?”  
“Oh, she was killed when I became a, well you know. Greyback only wanted children and my mum wouldn’t let him get to me, so he did what he could to get her out of the way,”  
“Remus, I am so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked,”  
“It’s fine it was a long time ago anyway; c’mon we don’t want to be sad all day do we?”  
“I suppose not, it’d made for a pretty sad day shopping,”  
“Yeah it would. So how many people are you getting presents for?”  
“You, your dad, James, mum, dad, Sirius, his brother and mum, Peter, Sev, Lils, Andy, Cissa, Bella and their parents,”  
“That’s so many people, do you even have enough money for all of them?”  
“Yeah mum gave me some extra money, I don’t think I’ll need it though. What do you want anyway? I wasn’t sure but as an extra I’m thinking of giving you a wolf toy,”  
“You are utterly terrible (y/n) Potter,”  
“You love me for that though,”  
“Obviously,” you smiled at him and put your arm over his shoulder as you walked into Diagon Alley. 

You headed towards a Obscurus Books. It was a small bookstore with a selection of books that required a higher level of understanding than Flourish and Blotts. It also tended to have books which had more pristine covers, overall, it was just a better shop. You entered the shop deciding you would get Severus something from here and Remus as well if he saw something he liked. You started looking for the potions section whilst Remus looked into Defence. You found a book that would be perfect for Sev. It described the ways that different ingredients effected potions, it would make steps in potions have more meaning, and you though he would like it. You saw Remus take particular interest in a book, so you picked up another copy of it without him noticing it and bought both.

“You ready to go?”  
“Yeah, I found a book my dad will like, and I like this book so I might get it for myself,”  
“That author isn’t the best, maybe wait for a similar book with a different author to be released. Besides it’s a new release and just in case the spells have unnoticed side effects,”  
“Oh, yeah you’re probably right, I’ll just go get the other one for my dad, be right back,” You smiled knowing that you had probably successfully deterred him from buying it. 

The next place you went was Gambol and Japes Wizarding Jokes shop. You decided it was the perfect place to get something for Sirius and James. Hopefully they wouldn’t use them on Severus specifically but regardless they looked like fun items. You and Remus bought a wide variety of items for both of them which you had big plans for. You just hoped your plan would work because if it did it would be one of the best things to watch. 

Next you went to a small antique store where you figured you could get something for the Black sisters. You found a pair of mirrors that would show the other mirror’s reflection for Narcissa to use with Lucius. You found a necklace with a bird skull at the end that had a protection for Bella since it matched her general aesthetic. You finally found a glass inkpot and quill for Andy. The feather part felt like glass, but it was soft and when you wrote the colour of the ink reflected through each of the little hair light structures. It also came with some different coloured inks to add to the whole thing. 

You continued to look around in case you found something for anyone else. Remus pointed out some rich coloured waxes that you could give to Sirius’s and Andy’s parents. They would make for nice wax stamps and they were really pigmented, and some looked almost metallic which would be great when sending important letters. That was when you realised how boring being an adult might end up being and you hoped your adult life would be considerably more enjoyable. 

After purchasing all the gifts as well as a little figurine for Remus’s dad you both left and went to a small café for lunch. Remus looked a bit uncomfortable, but you just sat him down and ordered a couple plates of shepherd’s pie because it was snowing, and you were both hungry and cold. While you were at it you also ordered a couple of hot chocolates because you had a slight obsession with them.

“You ok Remus? You look a bit off,”  
“What? Oh, I’m fine just a bit tired, that’s all,”  
“You sure? Because you are beginning to look pale,”  
“(y/n) I’m fine, I promise, just don’t like cold, I’m a bit hungry, didn’t sleep well, all that kinda thing, y’know,”  
“Last time you acted like this you went to the shrieking shack, so I just worry a bit,”  
“Well thanks for the concern but I promise I’m fine,” a couple moments later a waitress walked to the table and gave you your drinks and your meals. As soon as she was gone you both dug in and finished quite quickly despite the size of the meal.  
“I’m just going to the bathroom I’ll be right back,” you said as you stood up, however you didn’t go to the bathroom you went to the counter to pay. You glanced over at Remus to make sure he hadn’t noticed yet and noticed him put his head in his hands. He was beginning to look even worse. 

When you came back to the table you gestured for you to leave. Remus was so out of it he didn’t even notice that he hadn’t seen you pay. You put your arm around his shoulders in a way where you would be able to support him if his legs gave out, a possibility which increased in chance with every step. You both finished your Christmas shopping quite quickly after that and since you still had a couple hours until you had to be home you and Remus decided to go to his house to wrap presents, especially James and Sirius’s. 

When you arrived, you were greeted by a cheery looking man who you figured was in his mid to late thirties. He greatly resembled Remus physically, but you assumed Remus inherited most of his demeanour from his mother. After a quick look at his son the man rushed forward to help you help Remus up to his room. He got Remus to sit on his bed whilst he made him something. 

“Are you really not going to tell me what’s wrong?”  
“It’s just my lycanthropy, sometimes it affects me quite badly, like today but most of the time it doesn’t,”  
“Ok boy, here you are, drink this,” his father said as he walked through the door to Remus’s room. After he drank it his eyelids immediately began to droop.  
“You might want to leave about now miss, he won’t wake up for a while,”  
“Yeah alright, nice to meet you Mr. Lupin, see you next Wednesday,”  
“Oh, are you the friend staying over next week?”  
“Yeah I am,”  
“Well, it’s nice to meet you. I’m sure Remus told you about how long he spent convincing me to let you stay the night,”  
“No, he told me you said he could have a friend over during the holidays,”  
“Oh… Do not tell him I told you that,”  
“Um alright then,”  
“Guys I’m half asleep but I can still hear you, and dad please for Merlin’s sake stop talking from time to time,” you and Mr. Lupin burst out in fits of laughter that he had heard that little exchange, though Remus’s face was quite red, probably from embarrassment, or whatever he drank. You decided it was probably a mixture of the two. With that you gave Remus a quick hug goodbye, said bye to his father once more and flooed home to wrap the presents.


	15. Christmas, Friends & Gray Dogs

The day you were supposed to go to Lily’s you woke up particularly early. After all Christmas was one of your favourite days. You quickly got up and put up a plaid dress because you were in the mood for the Christmas spirit before running to the living room. Every year you and James would race to the presents, whoever got their first would get to open an extra present. The prize wasn’t as important, but you got bragging rights, so it wasn’t too big of a deal.

“Morning, (y/n). James is still asleep, so you won this year,”  
“Thanks mum, merry Christmas,”  
“Merry Christmas darling,”  
“I’M AWAKE, IM GOING TO WIN SUCK ON THAT (Y/N), oh….” James yelled as he ran into the room to see you already there,  
“Not expecting me brother dearest,”  
“No, obviously,” you rolled your eyes, and your parent ended the disillusionment charm. Everyone was particularly shocked when they saw a human shaped parcel,  
“That one’s yours James,” he looked at you with wide eyes before tearing it open, clearly hoping it would be a surprise and it was Sirius. He screamed when he got the first layer off because a little bomb of black powder covered the room and he inhaled some. Once it cleared James had already finished opening it to see the assortment of prank items you had bought him. With that he picked up a present and put it in your hands. It was a small box and when you opened it you saw a crystal ball.  
“Oh, thank you James,” you said despite the disappointment, he even knew you thought that divination was ludicrous.  
“Now open this,” you opened the next present and it was a camera.  
“They are a set. You take photos, it prints them, moving obviously and if you can figure out how you put the photo into the ball. You can then tap it with your wand and project the photos onto your ceiling,” you lunged at James and wrapped your arms around him.  
“Oh, I love it thank you,” he quickly pushed you off him as your parents each gave you one of your presents each. You opened them at the same time to see a muggle device,  
“They’re phones. I know they are opened but we had to put wards around them. You can use them at school because there is a ward around it that prevents magic from interfering,” The rest of the morning passed quickly and some of your aunts came over for lunch. However, you found it difficult to properly enjoy since you just wanted to go over to Lily’s. 

As soon as they left you ran upstairs. You grabbed your bag, as well as the presents for Lily and Sev. You ran back downstairs and your parents apparated you to a small alley by her house. They gave you a hug goodbye and promised to pick you up the following day. You walked the short distance to her house. The area was quite average. You could see what looked like a particularly poor district not too far away as Lily seemed to live on the edge. You arrived at her house quickly.

It was a large cottage looking house. There was a variety of flowers and plants growing in the front yard, along with a small rabbit hopping around. It was a two-storey house and you saw a brown-haired girl in one of the front windows. She was reasonably pretty but she had a sour expression on her face, you assumed it was Petunia. You didn’t have enough time to absorb your surroundings anymore since Lily threw the front door open and gave you a hug,  
“Oh my god (y/n), I’ve missed you so much,  
“I’ve missed you too Lils,” you said as she pulled you inside the house. 

The walls were pale blue with beautiful wooden furniture, there were dark coloured wooden floorboards which gave a nice contrast to the walls. There were many large windows which let in the light giving an airy feel to the room. Petunia snarled at you as her parents greeted you. They were nice enough people but seemed to try and avoid you a little. Lily had told you that although they didn’t have anything against magic they were cautious of people who had it. 

Lily took you up to her room and gave you a parcel,  
“Merry Christmas girly,” you smiled as you opened it to reveal a small book on magical animals. The book looked like it might have been an antique,  
“It’s a bit outdated but that’s why I thought you might like it, it challenges a lot of ideas about magical creatures. Some of them are a bit ridiculous but there are some which are interesting theories I thought you would enjoy,”  
“Oh, that’s wonderful, thank you so much Lily. Here, open yours,” you had bought her a her a nice necklace with a lion pendant on the end that would change colours in the light.  
“It’s so pretty thank you. Now then, would you like to see Sev? I told him I might be able to see him today in case you didn’t wanna go and just stay here,”  
“I’d love to, does he know I’ll be there though?”  
“No, I thought it might be a nice Christmas surprise,”  
“Alright, just give me a moment so I can get his present,” you walked over to your bag to get the book that you had wrapped yesterday.

The two of you walked the kilometre or two to the park. You weren’t sure how far you had gone as you became quite preoccupied with your conversation. You discussed different school topics as well as your holidays, apparently Severus hadn’t been great lately. When you arrived he wasn’t there. It was a small park by a river which looked quite polluted. It was at that moment you were in the poorer district. There were broken bottles and litter scattered on the sidewalks. Though the park was a bit nicer, you figured people didn’t want to destroy the one thing in the neighbourhood that was actually nice. 

Lily dragged you over to a swing set and told you to get as high as you could then jump off. If you did it right your magic would let you slowly drift down to the ground. You both did the activity several times over before you got the hang of it. It didn’t surprise you that she got it the first time, after all she had done it many times before this day. 

You heard a shuffling noise a little way off and saw a small dog walk into the park. It didn’t even look like it had been fed for the past few months, let alone have a wash. It walked over to you and started barking softly, you crouched down and decided to pet it. It warmed to your touch immediately and did what you assumed the equivalent of purring was. You took the dog to the river and gave it a small wash, just to get the beginning of the grime off of it. It seemed to naturally be gray and once you set it down on the ground again it refused to go far from you. When you and Lily went on the swings it would sit just by the swings. 

After a few more minutes you heard some footsteps. You swung your head around and saw Severus. He looked utterly terrible. His hair was much oilier than usual, and he looked paler. He looked thinner than when you last saw him, and his cheeks looked sullen. That was when you noticed that he seemed to have some issues walking around. He staggered a bit and moved as if he had poles under his clothes. Lily ran over to him and gave him a big hug. 

They said merry Christmas before he noticed you and the joy instantly drained from his face. You weren’t sure if he was just the shock or if he actually didn’t want to see you.  
“Merry Christmas (y/n),” he said stiffy  
“Merry Christmas Sev,” you responded as you pulled out his present and handed it to him. He unwrapped it quickly seeing the book that you got him.  
“Thanks (y/n). I didn’t realise you were going to be here, so I didn’t get you anything,”  
“Oh please, that’s fine. Lils told me you wouldn’t know I was coming, I didn’t expect it,”  
“Right, Lily, why did you invite her?”  
“Sev, she’s our friend she came over I thought you would like to see her,”  
“You know why I wouldn’t,”  
“Severus, she wouldn’t tell, don’t you trust her?”  
“You are the only person that knows if you recall, no one else does. Why would I trust her?”  
“Severus! You’re being hurtful!”  
“I don’t care,” Lily went to grab his arm, but he pushed her away. In doing so his baggy long sleeve caught the wind and moved just enough for you to see a very ugly scar beginning to heal and a large bruise as well. Glancing over the rest of him, it was clear the rest of him was the same. 

He was being very badly injured by someone.


	16. Washing the Dog & Girl Talk

“Severus what happened?”  
“See Lily? This is why I didn’t want to see her, of course she would notice them,”  
“Severus, she should know, she’s been your friend all term she isn’t going to abandon you,”  
“Do you recall who her brother is? If he hears anything about this guess what’s going to happen to me. He’ll get worse, he’ll call me weak transfigure me into something even,”  
“Severus Snape, believe it or not I don’t go around telling my brother everything, he doesn’t know very much about you or Lily because I never tell him anything why would I?”  
“I don’t know why you would but even if you didn’t go and tell him it’s inevitable that at some point he would find out,”  
“Not necessarily from me though,”  
“What about the guys in your dorm, surely one of them has seen something, what if they use it against you when you’re older. Would you blame that on me?”  
“Leave!”  
“What?” you and Lily chorused simultaneously,  
“I said leave, I am, and if you two follow me I swear to merlin I will stop you with damned force,”  
“Severus! Stop overreacting, she is your friend, you’re treating her like she’s a gossiping child who tells her brother every little thing about her life and her friends. Do you not know her at all?”  
“Honestly Lils, I don’t even think I know you anymore,” with that he turned quickly and walked hastily out of the park. As soon as he was out of sight tears started to stream down Lily’s face and she fell to her knees sobbing. The little dog -who had been behind your legs the entire encounter- peered out as you sat next to Lily to try and comfort her.

“Lils it’s alright,”  
“No, no it’s not (y/n). Being in Slytherin, being in that environment with people with those ideals. It’s changed him. He isn’t really acting like he used to, even when you aren’t around, he’s quieter, he’s been looking into dark magic. I’m worried, I thought that if you came, I don’t know what I thought but maybe it would fix things a bit. I don’t know how I was so naïve. He’s changed, he’s at a crossroad and it’s clear which way he’s going, and it’s away from me, away from good,”  
“Shh, calm down it’s alright. It’s healthy for people to have interests Lils, it doesn’t mean he’s becoming dark,”  
“You don’t see it though, in defence he pays more attention to the curses than how to defend them. He… I don’t know, he just seems more intrigued by anything dark, hell even his wardrobe is black or dark shades, so dark they may as well be black,”  
“He’s 11 Lils, I’m sure it’s nothing much,”  
“I hope you’re right. C’mon let’s go home, we need to give squirt a bath,”  
“Squirt?”  
“I thought it was a nice name for him,”  
“The dog! You named my dog for me? How dare you,” you mocked. She rolled her eyes as her tears stopped and you helped her stand up. You then pulled the dog to your chest where he settled and seemed to fall asleep, or go into a very restful state, one of the two. 

The two of you walked back in near silence, apart from Lily’s small sobs every 10-20 seconds. When you got home, no one seemed to be around, so Lily took you to the main bathroom. It was particularly nice. It had pale blue wallpaper and a dark wooden section that went up to waist height with gray tiles on the ground. You put the dog in the bath as Lily left. You started scratching Squirt under his chin until Lily reappeared in a swimsuit.   
“It’s a big bath, and we are going to get wet anyway, may as well,” she said as she tossed you one. She then walked out and closed the door as you quickly changed. 

When she came back in you both got in the bath with Squirt and turned on the water. When the water turned on he jumped into your lap and looked at you as if you were trying to hurt him. You started to soothe him as Lily cupped some water in her hands and poured it down his back. Every time the water hit him he looked scared, but you continued on anyway. He was absolutely filthy and probably had some injuries. After he was clean he was beginning to acclimatise to the water. He slowly got off you and started walking in the water that went up to his mid-chest. You both watched him as he tried to swim, though the water was too low to do so. Lily turned the taps back on so he could swim and you both sat so your legs where submerged a bit so that he could get onto one of your laps if he got scared. 

Despite that, he started swimming in the small amount of space in the bath that wasn’t taken up by you and Lily.   
“He really is cute isn’t he. Shame he likes you more than me,”  
“don’t worry Lils, you can visit him with me, I’ll probably bring him to Hogwarts anyway,”  
“You aren’t allowed dogs though. You can only have an owl a cat or a toad, or a rat,”  
“Oh yeah, my parents would probably be fine with having a dog, they can probably take care of him during term,”  
“I’m going to be living at yours during the holidays in that case,”  
“So, you can see my brother every day and endure his terrible attempts at flirting?”  
“That crap he does is flirting?”  
“Well, it’s his attempt at it, yes,”  
“He likes me?”  
“Yeah, didn’t you notice? He is constantly looking at you, I swear I’ve seen him write the name Lily Evans Potter in some of his books a couple times,”  
“Seriously? I had no idea. Tad embarrassing,”  
“Do you like him though?”  
“Merlin no. He doesn’t stop harassing Sev. He’s immature and rude. I wouldn’t even want to be his friend until he changed,” you nodded at her statement before she continued, “On the topic of crushes, you have a thing the Lupin boy. Don’t you?”  
“What! Lily I do not,”  
“Oh, I’ve seen the way you look at each other, you’d be cute together,”  
“I look at him like he’s my closest friend,”  
“Don’t you two sleep together?”  
“Yeah but, wait, how do you know, please don’t tell me people know about that.”  
“I heard about it through James actually. I was walking behind him to class, and he was talking about how annoyed he is that you do that. I wasn’t sure if he was serious or not,”  
“It’s true, but it’s because I couldn’t sleep on the first night. I used to sleep with a house elf and being away from home, without an elf. He couldn’t sleep because I was being loud by rolling over, sighing, you get the idea. I told him about the elf, and he told me to sleep with him or to sleep by myself, but he just wanted me to sleep. The next morning James lost it and it was funny. Now we sleep together because it’s funny to see him death glare us in the morning,”  
“That is the worst reason I have ever heard. I thought it was going to be some star-crossed lovers kind of thing,”  
“Remus and I wouldn’t be alive if that were the case. James would have killed us if we even kissed each other,”  
“So, you think about it?”  
“What? No! Lily, you are utterly terrible,”  
“So, you don’t like him? Not even a tiny, tiny bit? Not even enough to say it could become a crush?”  
“oh um, I don’t know, maybe?”  
“OH MY GOD YOU DO LIKE HIM!”  
“I didn’t say that Lils,”  
“What? I’m not judging, it’s cute,”  
“I’m 11 what do you think is going to happen?”  
“Well, you’re already sleeping together, I expect to be made godmother when the baby’s born. When will that be 4th year? Maybe 3rd?”  
“Lily! Get your mind out of the gutter,”  
“But you do like him,”  
“I said a tiny, tiny bit. I don’t even know if it will even become a crush. Not that it even matters anyway. He doesn’t like me like that, I’m just his friend’s sister, I’m his friend”  
“You admitted it! Are you that daft? Have you seen the way he looks at you? I’m sure that he likes you. How couldn’t he? You’re sweet, smart and you sleep with him,”  
“Lily, I doubt it, and I don’t even know if I like him. If I do it’s not even much,”  
“I ship it ok? When you get together I swear I will throw some sort of party to shove it in your face that I, Lily Evans, was correct,”  
“Lily Evans Potter you mean,”  
“(y/n)!” she yelled as your burst out in fits of laughter, much to Squirt’s delight.


	17. Midnight Feasts and Conversations

Dinner that night consisted of the leftovers from the Evans’s Christmas lunch. There was quite a spread and it was an enjoyable meal. Though, Petunia managed to make it clear that you were a terrible person, a ‘freak’ to be precise. She used the word a few times but also the way she practically talked down to you. Her parents, on the other hand, were polite. They asked you questions about your life and mafic, but it was clear they feared it. 

After dinner you and Lily went back upstairs to her room. The two of you sat on the bay window she had and looked out over the setting sun.   
“Hey Lils, is Sev alright?”  
“Hm? Oh, not really. His father is an abusive drunk and his mother is neglectful,”  
“What? Why does he still live there?”  
“Because at least he has a roof over his head. Where else could he go? He can’t stay here, my parents don’t like him, especially Petunia. He can’t go to your place because James would murder him. He isn’t even all that close with most of his Slytherin friends. So, where do you suggest he goes if he were to leave home?”  
“I guess he’s stuck, but what about CPS or something? Isn’t there a magical equivalent?”  
“There is but it isn’t a good system. Very few witches and wizards need it, they go through the muggle one because if they are orphans it happens when they’re too young to know if they’re magical. It’s small and extremely underfunded. He would be surrounded by kids who are screaming, he probably wouldn’t have his own room. The discipline in those places is usually quite horrific,”  
“How long has it been going on for?”  
“Most of his life I think. For obvious reasons it isn’t a topic we talk about very much,” That ended the conversation and you continued watching the sunset and patting Squirt. 

At about midnight Lily left and told you to get into your pyjamas. You thought she was getting changed as well but as it turned out she brought pack several packets of lollies and chocolate, she even had a small tub of ice cream and a couple of spoons. You shared a particularly evil grin and you dug in. 

“Ok, so back to Remus, will you tell him?”  
“No, I don’t think I could. Think about it, if I did I might lose him as a friend,”  
“Or you could gain a boyfriend,”  
“But if and when we break up I could lose a boyfriend and a friend,”  
“I barely know him (y/n), but even I can tell that the chances of that happening is slim to none. He looks at you like you’re the only thing in this world that is actually worth living for,”  
“Lils, we both know that isn’t true. He looks at me like a friend, I thought we went over this earlier. Did we not?”  
“Oh, we did, it’s just that I still disagree with the conclusion that you reached because it was incorrect,”  
“I’m not wrong Lily. He will never see as anything more than a friend,”  
“Are you ok with that though? Just be honest with me, if you can’t be honest with me how can you be honest with yourself. You know anything you tell me stays with me, so tell me the truth,”  
“Yeah, I think I am. I don’t even know if I like him as a crush, so him not liking me isn’t an issue in the slightest,” Lily looked at you, in an almost disappointed in your answer.  
“What?”  
“You don’t see anything. You don’t see how Sev is becoming dark, you don’t see the way one of your best friends looks at you. You can’t even see that you look at him in a similar way. So, tell me, what do you see?”  
“I see a friend who has an interest in dark arts. He is in Slytherin surrounded by people who are talking about them, so why wouldn’t he look into it? I see my best friend see me as a friend, and I see him in the same way. 

I see my other best friend, she looks out for me and keeps an eye out for me. She asks me what I see, but she doesn’t see the way that Severus looks at her whenever she’s with him, and how he looks at her when she’s not. She doesn’t see the way that my brother tries to impress her, tries to get her to see him as something other than a pest. I see a girl who can see how people interact with the world around her, but she doesn’t see how the people in the world interact with her. She’s the same as me,”

“That was strangely poetic (y/n)”   
“Thank you, I’ve been rehearsing it all my life,”  
“Oh, come off it (y/n). Also, is it true what you said, about the way Sev looks at me?”  
“Haven’t you noticed it. He looks at you like you’re the only thing keeping him on earth, like you’re an absolute goddess or something. I swear he idolises you, he tries to make you happy, he can’t stand seeing you around anyone else,”  
“Seriously? I never noticed, maybe I shouldn’t be telling you that you don’t see,”  
“I noticed after the first couple days of school. It was kind of sad actually, the way that he looked at you, hoping that you might see him as anything more than a friend,”  
“I don’t though. All he is my friend, I love him as a brother. I couldn’t ever date him, kiss him, sleep with him. It wouldn’t be right,”  
“You need to try communicate that to him Lils. He is going to think he might have a chance otherwise,”  
“Would that be so bad though?”  
“Would what be so bad? Having him fawning over you?”  
“Yeah, would it be so bad to have the attention of two guys? One willing to do anything for me, and one who is annoying, but still manipulatable,”  
“How can you say that? You would be playing with people’s emotions! Imagine thinking the guy you had a crush on liked you back then you find out he just wanted the attention!”  
“By the time he would have the guts to act on anything would be years in the future, he’d be too far into the dark side of magic to still be my friend,”  
“You put an expiration date on your friendship?”  
“If you saw how his eyes light up at the mention of anything dark, you would as well,”  
“I can’t believe this, you’re his only true friend,”  
“I know that, but if he slips so far out of my grasp, and he only holds onto an idealistic version of me as a possible girlfriend or wife, would you blame me?”  
“If he became incredibly dark, I wouldn’t blame you for ending a friendship. However, if you decide now that you won’t be friends with him soon, you have already come to that conclusion, you shouldn’t drag him along, it’s cruel of you,”  
“I know it is, but I’m not perfect, I’m flawed in that way. I look at it and know that things will eventually end, everything ends,”  
“I’m not saying that knowing things will eventually end makes you a bad person, it makes you a realist. I am saying that if you have made the decision you won’t be his friend in the future, you should stop it now,”  
“(y/n), please calm down. I want to hold on for as long as I can. I love him like a brother, he pretty much is my brother. But I know he will become dark, when that happens I will leave, I can’t stay in a friendship where one party is corrupted by dark magic. I have an idea of when he will be too far gone. Anyway, can we drop it? I really don’t want to spend our time together fighting, (y/n) Lupin,”  
“Fine, but at least think about what I said, Lily Potter,”

The rest of the night was spent acting like fools, eating more lollies and chocolate than should be consumed in a lifetime and planning elaborate pranks for Petunia that would never see the light of day simply because they were so ridiculous. Lily had moved past the conversation you had about her friendship with Severus, but you hadn’t. You didn’t understand how this girl, this sweet innocent girl with a supposed heart of gold could just decide to end a friendship in a few years. She said it so easily, as if it were a normal or reasonable thing to imply. And what annoyed you further was that she didn’t see the issue with stringing him along. You thought it was decisively wrong and it made you feel ill thinking about it. 

Despite that, she was still your best friend. No matter how she felt about Severus you would stand by her side. You would question her, but you would let her live her life, even if it meant that she hurt Severus. You felt bad for that, but your friendship with Lily was stronger than the one with Severus, a person who would rather never see you again.


	18. Black Manor

“(y/n), wake up. Aren’t you meant to be at your friend’s in half an hour?”  
“WHAT? No, no, no I can’t have slept in,” you looked at your clock to see it was 11:00am. You clambered out of your bed as quickly as possible, got dressed and got ready before checking you had everything in your bag that you needed.   
“Calm down, (y/n),”  
“Easy for you to say mum, you aren’t the one who’s about to be late,”  
“Take a breath you will get there with time,”  
“No, I won’t. I most certainly will not get there in time, look at me I’m a mess,”  
“You’re just going to Andy’s,”  
“Yes, and if you recall her name is Andromeda Black,”  
“Oh… I hadn’t realised that. Ok, how about I straighten your hair then?” you nodded your head and she cast the charm. Your hair instantly fell straight, making you look just a bit more dignified. Then you rushed off to have a quick breakfast, which ended up being a few strawberries you found.

At 11:29 your mum apparated you to outside the Black mansion’s gates, before quickly disapparating. You looked around for a moment before the gates disappeared before your eyes, giving you entry. You walked down the short lane to the house that was edged with bushes and perfectly cut trees. Everything was coated in a layer of snow, something that made most places look magical. Though this house did not, it loomed over you, it’s several storeys of grey brick contrasting with the perfectly white snow. It looked almost evil. 

You walked up the steps to the front door and as you reached out to knock it swung open and you were greeted by a young-looking house elf,  
“Hello, miss Potter, youngest mistress Black instructed me to take you to the drawing room when you arrived, I can take your bag and coat for you,”  
“Thank you, and how should I address you?”  
“My name is Ripny,”  
“Alright, thankyou Ripny,” you said as you gave her your coat and bag. She disapparated with a crack leaving you for a few seconds to take in your surroundings. The floor was a solid black marble with a deep, rich green wallpaper on the walls. Upon closer inspection there were intricate designs on the wallpaper in a slightly lighter shade of the green. There were a variety of portraits hung along the walls, most of which looked down on you as if you were scum. The room was lit predominantly from candles which emitted more light than they should have been able to.

“Would young miss Potter follow me please?” you looked down to see that Ripny to see that she had just returned. You nodded your head and she led you through a complex maze of hallways until you reached a set of large oak doors. Ripny opened the doors before disapparating again. You walked into the room noticing that it was much lighter. It had dark wooden floorboards, but pale cream panelling along the walls. There were a couple of large windows on the far side of the room that let in light making the room captivating. As you approached the chairs in the middle of the room Andromeda turned around. She jumped up from her chair and quickly walked over to giving you a hug.  
“Merlin, I feel like I haven’t seen you in ages, and it’s only been a week,”  
“I know I feel the same, I can’t believe it has been such a short time, it feels like a short eternity,”  
“Anyway, merry Christmas, I have your present upstairs. Bella and Cissa are upstairs, they will be joining us soon, please sit, I am to be the most proper of proper hostesses,”  
“That sounds lovely, you truly are a hospitable hostess,”  
“Oh, you flatter me so,” you both smiled at your antics as you sat back down facing the large windows.   
“(y/n)? I didn’t realise you would be here already. Ripny? Ah there you are, please fetch Cissa for me,” Ripny disappeared with a crack as Bellatrix quickly made her way over to you and gave you a hug before promptly sitting on your lap.  
“Bella,” Andromeda scolded, “She’s our guest, we have other chairs,”  
“She was taking the one I wanted. You don’t mind do you (y/n)?”  
“Not in the slightest,”  
“See Andy, she is happy for me to be here,” Andromeda rolled her eyes as Narcissa walked into the room closely followed by Lucius.   
“I see we aren’t the only couple here,” Lucius mocked as he saw you with Bellatrix on your lap.  
“Pleasure to see you as well Lucius, I hope you’re taking good care of my sister upstairs,” you and Andromeda both sputtered as she said that, as you were quite taken aback.  
“Only the utmost care for my Narcissa,”  
“Ok you two stop, you’re making out that we doing things upstairs. Which we have never done, I will have you know,”  
“I have seen you two make out, I would say it’s pretty close to doing the things you haven’t done,”  
“Leave us alone Bella,”  
“Everyone, please stop, now then. Shall we have some tea,” Everyone (bar Bella and Narcissa who were sitting on yours and Lucius’s laps respectively) took their seats and were handed a saucer with a cup filled with tea as well as a couple biscuits.

“How have your holidays been so far (y/n)?”  
“Pretty good I have seen a couple of my friends,”  
“Who’d you see?”  
“I went Christmas shopping with Remus. Then I went to Lily’s for a sleepover and saw Sev. I was supposed to see my group as well, but Peter couldn’t go last Friday so we are only catching up this Friday”  
“Oh, the quiet boy who needs to wash his hair?”  
“TRIX! That’s mean, but yes that’s him,”  
“You won’t tell (y/n), besides everyone thinks it. Besides it’s not like I’m saying this in front of random people, I’m saying it in front of family, and Lucius,”  
“Hey, I’m more family that (y/n) is,”  
“Difference is Lucius, we all like (y/n), the only person that likes you is Cissa,”  
“I actually have a chance of becoming actual family,”  
“Yes and (y/n) might marry Sirius, point is we like her, so she’s family,” Lucius rolled his eyes as Narcissa spoke up,  
“Why would you even spend time around the Evans girl? She’s a mudblood, your family is already thought of as partial blood traitors, why would you continue that idea?”  
“Although my family is comprised of pure bloods and keeping the bloodline marrying purebloods and half bloods they still think it’s important to have diversity with blood status,”  
“I suppose you have a point, but at the same time it is important to keep mudbloods as far away from pure blooded people, after all they are below us. It is a real shame that Hogwarts isn’t segregated according to blood purity. Purebloods would get the education they deserve without it being slowed down by their pointless questions and general misunderstanding,” The rest of tea went on in a similar fashion. Exchanging thoughts on a variety of matters, including if Dumbledore had a thing for McGonagall. You tried to tell them he was gay, but they had forgotten and kept pushing it, just to annoy you. 

After tea you all went up to Andromeda’s room to exchange presents. Bellatrix loved the necklace you gave her and put it on immediately. Narcissa was thrilled with the mirrors, as was Lucius, since they could now talk to each other during the night as their dorms were properly protected to stop any person from going into the wrong dorm. Bellatrix and Narcissa gave you a thick silver choker which would resize to fit you. It was a simple design but in the middle was a reasonably large star diamond. It would also protect you when casting dark magic from corrupting your soul and it would remain invisible unless you wanted people to see it. People could even touch your neck and they wouldn’t notice it. 

Andromeda gave you something you had never even heard of before. It was a pair of muggle contacts, but they allowed you to take the form of any person that you wanted to whilst letting it seem like you were free from glamours or Polyjuice. The only way to know that you weren’t in your true form was for someone to cast ‘habent veritatem’. They would also allow you to change your eye colour just because it was a fun idea.

Narcissa spent the night in her room whilst you, Bellatrix and Andromeda slept in Andy’s room. You all shared her king-sized bed and shared a variety of random stories. You all fell asleep perfectly content in each other’s embrace all night.


	19. Forest Talks

You woke at 8am on Wednesday morning so you had a couple hours to get ready before going to Remus’s. Ever since you went shopping with him you had been worried. You knew he was fine, it was just because of the lunar cycle he got bad but you still had something in you nagging you that something was off. After seeing Lily, he was even more in your head as you tried to figure out if you liked him or not. After much deliberation you had come to the conclusion that you had what could be considered the very beginnings of a crush but that as it. So why you were so nervous to see him was beyond you. You told yourself it was because last time you saw him he had to go home early and also because you wanted him to like your present. But you knew you were lying to yourself, that wasn’t the reason, it was just the reason you chose. 

A few minutes after 10 your mother apparated you to his house, before once more quickly disapparating. He lived quite far from any other houses. The house looked like a cottage and was on the edge of a large forest. It had stone walls and had moss growing on the walls. It looked like something out of a fairy tale and you loved it. You walked down the sandy path to the house and knocked on the door. It was opened by Remus’s father. He ushered you inside and told you to sit on one of the armchairs until Remus came down, as he had just had a shower and was getting dressed.

As you waited you looked around the room. It was in a word; homely. The floorboards were slightly worn, and the furniture looked inviting. The living room was set up in a way that allowed for people to easily have a conversation around the fireplace. Upon closer inspection you saw some photos on the mantle which must have been Remus with his mother in the early years of his life, as well as a few as he was older with just his dad. There were books lining one of the walls and they looked as if they had been ready many times. Your inspection came to a quick halt when Remus can down the stairs, before you could react he had half thrown himself at you giving you a bone crushing hug. 

“Haha, hey Remus,”  
“Hey (y/n), sorry I haven’t seen anyone all holidays with the exception of Christmas shopping which got cut short as you know,”   
“You don’t need to apologise for giving me a hug you know”  
“I know, but still. Anyway, wanna go up to my room?”  
“Uh sure,” with that he grabbed your hand and pulled you up the staircase. It led to a small corridor with three doors. You assumed one was a bathroom and the other two were bedrooms.

He went to the door on the right and opened it. You followed him in and you both sat on his bed. It was a double and the room had a beautiful view of the forest. It was a smallish room but still had all the necessities. A dresser, cupboard, desk, a few other things, it was simply a nice room. He quickly got up and went to his desk and pulled out a package before handing it to you.   
“You first,” you said pulling out the book for him. He smiled and opened it, he quickly tore away at the paper to reveal the book that he had been looking at in the store. His smile instantly broadened as he realised the reason you told him not to get it. He instantly gave you another hug and you opened your present.

It was a wand holster. It wasn’t flashy looking but was made of a soft leather that, when attached to your forearm, adjusted to your body to fit it properly. You adored it and gave him the biggest hug you could manage in response. 

“Do you want to go into the forest by any chance? There are some really nice trails. We can’t be too loud here ‘cause dad does his work from home and can get pretty annoyed,”  
“Yeah sure, sounds fun. So long as you don’t mind that I will probably turn into a fox or something and run away,”  
“I can’t stop you, but I’d prefer it if you didn’t do that,”  
“Don’t worry, I probably won’t,”  
“I stopped trusting that statement the instant you included the word ‘probably’,” you let out a small laugh as you both stood up. 

He led you outside of the house and down the path to the edge of the forest. You walked in together as the canopy blocked out much of the sunlight.  
“This is where I used to transform,”  
“Yeah, I thought so. It would be a pretty nice place to do so, much nicer than the shack,”  
“Agreed, but it’s preferable to being found out,”  
“Do you think you will ever tell James, Sirius and Peter about it?”  
“Yeah, I will, but I’ve only known them a few months. I don’t know how long we will even stay friends. What happens if they leave when they find out and tell people?”  
“Do you really think they would though?”  
“No, no I don’t. But I just don’t want anyone knowing. It’s bad enough you know,”  
“Oh yeah, sorry about that. I was just really worried and when you didn’t go to the hospital wing. I don’t know what I was thinking but I was worried,”  
“Don’t beat yourself up about it. It worked out for the best, besides if I ever need to get somewhere, I can just get you to become a hippogriff and take me wherever I need to be,”  
“Someday maybe I’ll become something deadly so you can fight me off,”  
“No one would believe that, everyone knows barely dangerous animals could kill me,”  
“You’re right. I’ll just become a hippogriff, and when everyone is outside, we can fly around and show off how good of a rider you are,”  
“I will be the talk of the school,”  
“Yes, Remus Lupin the first to ride a hippogriff,”  
“I like that title,”  
“We both know it’s false though,”  
“I might be the first werewolf though, you never know,”  
“Maybe, but it’s doubtful,”  
“You’re crushing my dreams (y/n)”  
“That’s your dream? To be the first werewolf to ride a a hippogriff?”  
“Well, no, my dreams are considerably more profound than that,”  
“Tell me, what do you dream for?”  
“I don’t know, a wife and children, a nice home, and a world were a cure for lycanthropy exists and I can afford it,”  
“That sounds like a nice dream, quite idyllic,”  
“Yeah it does, doesn’t it. What about you?”  
“Much the same, except I replace the wife with a husband, and I would add being surrounded by my friends, unlike some I value them,”  
“You are terrible Miss. Potter,”  
“Oh, I’m just ghastly aren’t I Mr. Lupin,”  
“You will be the death of me,”  
“I don’t believe in divination, but I know I won’t be,”  
“How do you know this exactly?”  
“I don’t exactly, but I can’t see myself killing you. Can you see it?”  
“I suppose not, but maybe I should just keep a little further away from you, we are in a forest where my death could be explained as an accident,”  
“Remus! You know I would never want to hurt you,”  
“I know, I’m kidding,” You arrived at a clearing with a lake. It was beautiful. You smiled at him as you dragged him to the water’s edge and dipped your hand in.

“I never did hold you to my promise about running away did I?”  
“What are you thinking?”  
“Nice knowing you Remus,” you said as you leapt into a deeper spot and quickly transformed into a mermaid.  
“What do you think?” You asked as you put your head above the water.  
“I think my friend doesn’t realise the crocodile behind her,”  
“WHAT?” you yelled turning around. Only calming down when you heard Remus laughing so much, he fell to his knees.   
“I will get you for that Remus Lupin,”  
“What?” you quickly grabbed his wrists and pulled him into the water. He came back up sputtering and pushing the wet hair out of his face.


	20. Arguments & Promises

That evening you and Remus were sitting in his room talking about some of your subjects. The door opened and his father gruffly told you that dinner was ready. You both got up and walked downstairs together. His father had a made a stew for dinner. It was the kind of stew that made you think of long winter nights by a fireplace, a meal that made you feel warm and good inside. 

“(y/n)?”  
“Yes?”  
“What do you think of school?” It was clear he wanted to make you feel welcome, but it was still quite obvious that he didn’t want you in his home,  
“I find it quite interesting, I’ve made a lot of friends and my classes are enjoyable,”  
“Mhm, great. Shame my son only has those morons in his group. The boys seems like they would be better off in a zoo. I saw them at Diagon Alley, they look like trouble and that girl as well. What business does she have sleeping in the same room as them? Let alone sleep in the same bed as my son,”  
“One of those boys is the last male heir of the black line, one of the other boys is my twin brother and the girl you mentioned is me. I have one female friend in my house, and she wasn’t in my dorm. However, I was already in a group with the rest of them and they had a spare bed,”  
“Then why don’t you use that bed?”  
“Because on the first night I couldn’t sleep, and I was keeping Remus awake. He told me to be quiet and sleep, I told him I’m used to sleeping with a house elf. He told me if I wanted, I could just sleep in his bed, but he just wanted to sleep. The next morning my brother absolutely lost it. Now we sleep together because it is funny to see James’s reaction every morning. He looks like he wants to murder us. Though I do occasionally sleep with Sirius,”  
“I don’t like those boys, though at least they aren’t sleeping around,”  
“FATHER!”  
“What? Isn’t that an accurate way of describing it? Who are you anyway? Just a random little witch?”  
“I am the only female in my generation of the Potter family. I come from a line of witches and wizards who have some of the strongest blood in the entire wizarding world. The only reason we aren’t part of the sacred 28 is because our surname is also a common muggle one even though we haven’t bred with them for at least the past 1000 years. The blood in my veins is so pure and strong I would probably be able to beat a Malfoy or a Black,” your voice was steadily becoming more aggressive,  
“You sure are proud, aren’t you? Shame you couldn’t defend yourself now, since you can’t use magic outside of school,”  
“I’m sure you’re aware that the ministry can’t tell who casts magic. They can only tell where the magic was cast. When magic is cast in a muggle house where a muggle born lives, it is obvious it is them that cast it, however in a house with at least one magical adult, it is impossible to know who cast the magic. Since you live here, if you tried to attack me, I would be able to counter you without any issues with the ministry,”  
“How would you even know about that?”  
“I have been casting magic with my parent’s wands since I was small. Never real spells but channelling my own magic, making it stronger. Over the holidays I have been practicing even more. My parents explained the concept at an early age, after all by having a family in the magical world for so long they tend to notice these sorts of things,”  
“How rude of you, to raise your voice when you are a guest in my house,”  
“Father, she is my guest not yours, and I’m sure you would excuse me from doing the same if someone else’s parents started saying I sleep around, that I’m weak, and being all around degrading,” Remus interjected, his voice at a similar level to yours,”  
“It is a real shame that purebloods today are so sure of themselves, really shows how the ideas of the families is so biased towards anyone who isn’t like them,”  
“My family doesn’t hold prejudices. There has been proof that the average pureblood is stronger than the average half blood or muggle born witch or wizard. Of course, there are exceptions to that. Despite that my family has no issue with having half bloods or muggle borns in society, after all it creates a much-needed diversity, if we didn’t have them, we would be a bunch of inbred trolls with genetic defects due to inbreeding,”  
“So, the only reason you want people who aren’t purebloods is so that purebloods don’t end up with genetic defects?”  
“No, that is merely one of the reasons, another is that if we didn’t have them in society, they wouldn’t be taught how to control their magic and they could break the statute of secrecy. They help the economy by purchasing items and being employees,”  
“Yes, because purebloods are so rich, they need half bloods and muggle borns to run society?”  
“That is not what I said,”  
“But it’s true isn’t it? Will you need to have a job when you graduate?”  
“No, I won’t need to, I could lead a comfortable life without working a day, and so could my children and their children for generations to come. However, that doesn’t mean that that is the case for all purebloods, there are many who do need to work,”  
“Many? There are a small handful, and you know that,”  
“Having a family that has been earning money and saving for so many generations means that there is a large accumulative amount of money for future generations. Does that mean we should be looked down on because our ancestors worked hard and saved their money?”  
“Are you saying that other families don’t work hard?”  
“Stop twisting my words, I am saying that by having a family that has been earning money for so many generations it is inevitable that we would have a large accumulation of savings compared to other families,”  
“Then shouldn’t all muggle families have large accounts? No, they don’t. They have been muggle for more generations than your family,”  
“They had different views than witches and wizards had in regard to saving and spending. Besides the magical economy used to be so much better than the muggle economy. The average wizard was richer than some of the muggle royal family in the past,”  
“You really are proud, aren’t you? I’d be surprised if you didn’t end up with some snobbish pureblood man,”  
“Believe it or not, there are many purebloods I could marry, however that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t be perfectly content with a half blood. Like I said I don’t have prejudices,”  
“In other words, someone rich, so long as they aren’t a muggle born,”  
“My family has enough money that my husband would need to be rich. Not that it would matter, we could both easily work and create a comfortable lifestyle even if he was dirt poor. Because of my social standing I would easily be able to get a high paying job, I could be the main source of income,”  
“But that would go against your ideals wouldn’t it?”  
“I come from a pureblood family, we aren’t misogynists. We are ahead of muggles in that area,”’  
“In theory, I have seen most pureblood families, the man goes out,”  
“Because that is what works for the couple. There is nothing against having a woman be the one who works, and the man stay at home, or work a lower paying job,”  
“ENOUGH!” Remus yelled, “Father, that is enough. (y/n) is, as you said a guest stop trying to interrogate her, believe it or not she isn’t a terrible person despite what you seem to think. C’mon (y/n) let’s go,” he stood up and you followed in suit before he walked away. You quickly thanked his father for dinner before rushing to catch up with Remus. 

“I’m sorry about what he said,” Remus told you as you got back to his room,  
“Don’t worry about it,”  
“No, I didn’t realise he was going to practically interrogate you,”  
“He doesn’t need to be my biggest fan you know,”  
“I know but I thought he would be nicer to you. Excuse me,” with that he walked out the door and a minute later you heard some muffled voices that weren’t quite yelling but far from a normal level.

“I’m sorry about my husband,” you looked around the room to see the source of the voice to see a photo of a young woman.  
“Who are you?”  
“I’m Remus’s mum,” the photo replied, “and you are?”  
“(y/n) Potter,”  
“Oh, you’re the one that moved into my son’s dorm, aren’t you?”  
“Yeah, that’s me,”  
“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m afraid my husband doesn’t particularly like purebloods, he has had several nasty run ins with them. Not that it matters now of course. You can probably tell that my photo is almost faded, once it’s completely gone, I won’t be able to talk to my son or my husband anymore. I don’t know when I’ll have another chance to ask you this and I’m sorry for having to ask, but please look out for my son. I wish I could be there to do it, but I can’t anymore. I know you are an animagus and you stay with my son during the full moons and I’m eternally grateful. I know he isn’t your responsibility, but please, when you can, look out for him,”  
“Of course, I will,”  
“Thank you, but please don’t tell him, he will just get annoyed with me, he can look after himself and all that typical stuff,”  
“don’t worry your secret is safe with me,”  
“Thankyou,”  
“I see you’ve met my mother,” Remus said as he walked in,  
“Yes, we were having a lovely conversation,”  
“Mum can you talk to dad please? He won’t listen to me,” his mother smiled and left the photo leaving you and Remus alone.  
“Wanna get ready for bed? I’m dead tired,”  
“Yeah, sure thing,” you responded. You fell asleep together as you always did, much to his mother’s delight, and his father’s annoyance.


	21. Not The James and Peter Club

The day after you stayed over was Friday and you were arriving at Sirius’s at about 9. It was 8:30 and James still wasn’t awake. You weren’t planning on waking him until 8:55, so he could only brush his teeth. He would turn up in his pyjamas to one of the most prestigious people in wizarding society which made you strangely happy. At 8:55 you were ready to go and you woke James. 

“James! C’mon we have 5 minutes hurry up,”  
“What? No, no, no how did I sleep in, goddammit,”  
“JAMES POTTER NO SWEARING IN THE HOUSE,” you mother yelled from downstairs,  
“Sorry mum,” he called out as he ran to the bathroom. At 9am James walked downstairs, his hair a mess, in his pyjamas, with his presents in hand. Your mum once again apparated you to just outside the gates before disapparating. You knocked on 12 Grimmauld place and waited for Sirius to open the door. However, much to your surprise, Mrs. Black was the one to open the door. Upon seeing yourself and James at the doorstep she stepped aside giving Sirius the most quizzical look at his attire, not that you could blame her, he did look ridiculous. You walked down the hallway until you almost got pushed into the wall by Sirius running to give you a hug. Remus hung back in the doorway to the kitchen as Sirius ran into you. You gave Sirius a hug and then gestured to James with your head.

“Oh my Merlin James, what the hell happened to you?”  
“I slept in, and someone didn’t think to wake me,”  
“Miss. Potter you are an evil genius,”  
“Why thankyou Mr. Black, you flatter me so,”  
“Hey (y/n), hey James,” Remus half whispered. You looked away from Sirius’s laughing to see Remus, who you hadn’t noticed until that moment.  
“Hey Remus,” you responded walking over and giving him a bear hug.   
“Remus, please stay at least some distance from my sister today,” as James said that you walked behind Remus and wrapped your arms around his waist.  
“I don’t think it’s his fault now, is it little brother?”  
“I despise you both,”  
“Aww, you’re so mean,” you said as you screwed up your face as if you were about to cry. James rolled his eyes at you as another person knocked on the door. Mrs. Black, who was still near the door watching the entire exchange opened the door to see a very shy looking Peter on her doorstep.  
“Yes?”  
“Um does, uh, does Sirius live, um live here?” instead of answering she just stepped aside and let him past. He walked down the hallway to see James and Sirius smirking at him. Once Peter reached them, they both messed up his hair and proceeded to give him a hug. All the while you had let go of Remus and moved to stand beside him.  
“H… Hi (y/n),”   
“Hello Peter,” you responded with a bored look on your face, you didn’t really care for Peter, he just rubbed you the wrong way and you didn’t know why. Peter didn’t even acknowledge Remus before turning back to James and Sirius and started talking to him. You looked at Remus and could tell he looked a bit hurt, him and Peter had never been particularly close, but he didn’t expect to not even be acknowledged. You gave him a small hug in reassurance before Sirius ushered you all upstairs. 

He had led you to his room where you all sat in a circle to exchange presents. With a quick flick of your wand the presents went to the person they were supposed to be for. Sirius and Peter each had 4, whilst James and Remus only had three since you had already given each of them their presents and you had two, since Remus and James had already given you yours. James clearly noticed that you and Remus should have had an extra present.  
“Did you two not get each other anything?  
“Oh, we already gave each other our presents, brother dearest,”  
“What? When?”   
“Did you really think I went to Amy’s house? I haven’t spoken to her in ages, not after she ditched me because I didn’t like her boyfriend, you know, the one I said looked like a player, she got mad, then he played her,”  
“Are you telling me, you slept over at Remus’s?”  
“Yes, that is what she is saying James,” Remus interjected,  
“Why weren’t the rest of us invited?” Peter asked with a sneer on his face,  
“Because my dad said I could only have one friend,”  
“So, you thought, hey let’s invite my sister to sleep over?”  
“Yes, that would be an accurate statement,”  
“To hell with you Remus, it’s bad enough you sleep with her, go somewhere together once a month and now this? You really want me to think you aren’t dating?”  
“James, drop it,” you said,  
“C’mon man, they’re close ok? Even I expected this,” James rolled his eyes at Sirius’s comment but since everyone else started opening their presents he gave up.  
You eagerly watched Sirius open his human looking package to see the prank supplies you got him.   
“Snape’s gonna hate me even more after this,” you didn’t even bother telling him not to do that since you knew he wouldn’t listen. 

After you finished opening presents there was a small knock at the door. You turned around to see who you assumed was Sirius’s younger brother  
“what do you want Regulus?”  
“Mum said that lunch will be ready in 10 minutes,”  
“why didn’t she send Kreacher?”  
“I wanted to say hi to your friends,”  
“Fine say hi,”  
“Hi guys,”  
“Hey Regulus, how are you?”  
“Oh um, good thank you, um ok, bye,” with that he disappeared down the hallway.  
“Sorry he is so weird, but he is the perfect son which is why he is still here,”  
“Don’t worry he’s kinda cute,”  
“(y/n) I swear to god if you fall for him as well as Remus,”  
“I mean he’s cute in that little kid kind of way. Good lord James,”   
“James, Sirius, wanna try this out with me?” Peter asked, effectively leaving you and Remus out.   
“Remus?” you whispered, “What’s gotten into him? He used to be shy and polite,”  
“I wish I knew, maybe later we should just hang out with Regulus,”  
“SIRIUS!” Peter screeched, “you are no fun,” effectively excluding Sirius as well. Sirius came over to you and Remus and sat down with you.   
“James keeps saying I’m dating Remus, but maybe we should be saying he’s dating Peter, I mean, look at them,”  
“You have a solid point,” Sirius responded. After a couple minutes Sirius decided it was time to go downstairs and have lunch. You all walked back downstairs to see Regulus and Mrs. Black already sitting at the table waiting for all of you to arrive. As per usual you sat next to Remus, though you also sat next to Regulus because you figured everyone else would have ignored him, or in Sirius’s case, annoyed him. He looked at you and smiled. For a 9 or 10 year old he looked pretty young. You figured his age based purely off of his height.

“Now then children, for lunch we have a chicken broth with pasta” you all smiled and dug in. The broth was ridiculously good, and you decided that their house elf was should be commended for their effort, though you knew that in this kind of household commending a house elf simply wasn’t done, so you left it. The entire meal James and Peter were talking to each other and completely ignored the rest of you, much to Mrs. Black’s surprise. She clearly thought that they should have tried to engage with the rest of you but knew better than to open her mouth.

After lunch you all went back upstairs and spent the next few hours acting like fools. When it became time to go to bed you all got into your pyjamas (except for James who was already in them) and got into your beds. Mrs. Black had set up a few mattresses in the living room so everyone could sleep on a mattress and not on the floor. Once James and Peter and fallen asleep you gestured to Remus and the both of you moved to Sirius’s bed. You were in the middle and you all just tangled your legs and arms together trying not to laugh too loudly in case you woke James accidentally. 

“What do you think James will do when he wakes up?”  
“Scream the house down obviously,”

“WHAT ARE YOU THREE DOING? WHY ARE YOU GUYS SLEEPING WITH MY SISTER? IT’S BAD ENOUGH REMUS DOES THIS,”  
Mrs. Black stuck her head through the doorway with a sour expression on her face. When she saw you, Remus and Sirius in a human tangle she just started laughing and told you to go back to sleep for a while since it was only 8am. 

Later when you properly woke up James continued to ignore everyone except Peter whilst the rest of you played a board game.   
“Sirius?”  
“Yes mum?”  
“in future don’t invite those two unless they are going to join in, otherwise they may as well just have a sleepover together,”  
“Good, I wasn’t planning on it, now I have a good reason,”


	22. Returning For Term 2

All of your bags were packed, you mum had put a glamour on your uniform so that it would look like muggle clothes until you were safely on the train. You were ready, but you didn’t want to leave Squirt. As it turned out the dog was not as gray as she had originally looked, but was a pale gray, and was the friendliest little creature. You didn’t want to leave her but you couldn’t bring her to Hogwarts. You said your tearful good bye before standing up and leaving to go to the train station. It was almost as busy as it had been on your first day of school.

You got on the train just as it began to pull away and started looking through the carriages. The first compartment that had someone you knew was the one with Severus and Lily.  
“Hey (y/n), how are you?” Lily asked as her head shot up at the sound of the door opening  
“Not bad, I miss Squirt though,”  
“Yeah, she was so cute. Please don’t mope because of her though, Severus had a white dog that he got for Christmas but his father threw him out the door. Then later the same day he went looking for him when he found us. It’s a shame the dog we found was such a dark gray,”  
“Actually, Squirt is white, turns out there was just a tonne of grime on her,” Severus’s head perked up at that  
“Just keep her, she would have hated living with me anyway,”  
“Sev, why was she so dirty anyway if you got her that morning?”  
“Doesn’t matter Lils, besides you would probably just go and tell anyone that would listen,”  
“I should go,” you said, not wanting to be around if they got into an argument,  
“Oh, I was looking forward to talking about the rest of our holidays,”  
“Well I wasn’t looking forward to that conversation, so yes, please leave,”  
“Sev that’s mean,”  
“Lily don’t worry about it, I’ll go. See you guys later. 

The next compartment you found was the one with your group. James, Sirius and Peter were in a deep discussion, probably about pranks, whilst Remus was looking out the window. You sat down next to Remus, though he didn’t notice you,  
“The hills are so captivating, huh,”  
“Oh, hey (y/n). Yeah, they’re nice I guess,”  
“You alright Remus? You seem a little out of it,”  
“Yeah I’m fine, just thinking,”  
“Thinking about what exactly? The meaning of life? What comes after death?”  
“No, I’m not that much of a philosopher, just thinking about my life,”  
“What particularly about your life?”  
“My life in its entirety. What would my life have been like if I didn’t do something on a certain day. What if I hadn’t become the weird nerdy kid that follows James and Sirius around? What if I was friends with that person during primary school? Would I be different?”  
“Not very philosophical you say? I don’t think I believe you. But the thing is, if you know you could have been something else been someone different, would you take that opportunity?”  
“Doubtful, I just want to know if I could have been more noticed, interesting, just more,”  
“In short yes, you could have been more noticed, you probably could have been a more interesting person, but couldn’t everyone?”  
“You aren’t usually this philosophical either y’know,” he responded, not wanting to continue the previous conversation,  
“Just thinking about stuff,”  
“What is this so-called stuff?”  
“Before I found u guys, I saw Sev and Lils. During the holidays Lils and I found this dog and I took it home, turns out it was Sev’s and he doesn’t like me at the moment, even before he found out I have the dog,”  
“The gray dog you found at the park?”  
“Turns out it’s almost white, but yes, that’s the one,”  
“So, what happened?”  
“Not much, just him being short and snarky. I don’t get it, I don’t know what I did to get this response from him,”  
“Severus being a git again? I don’t know why you are even friends with the creep,” James said. You realised that James, Sirius and Peter had started listening to your conversation with Remus,  
“I’m more friends with Lily, besides, he isn’t usually that bad of a person,”  
“Sure he isn’t, guys just quiet, doesn’t wash his hair and is a real weirdo, yeah great person,”  
“James, please just drop it with Severus, he isn’t hurting you,”  
“I know, but it is so much fun. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go get changed,” Sirius and Peter followed suit. For a moment you didn’t understand why they were getting changed together before you realised they were probably going to do something to Severus. 

Your suspicions were confirmed when you heard a rather loud scream from just down the hall which was almost certainly from Severus. You threw your head backwards onto the back of the seat in annoyance as Remus chuckled at your reaction.  
“They just don’t stop, it’s just getting annoying now,”  
“I know, but they will probably grow out of it,”  
“When will that be though, they will be like this for ages,”  
“You could join in. No one would blame you if he’s being rude to you,”  
“Lily would blame me,”  
“Lily’s your friend and if she is seeing how he’s treating you maybe she wouldn’t,”  
“Possibly but I don’t want to do that anyway, I just want them to stop and it seems so impossible,”  
“May I remind you what you got them for Christmas?”  
“That is completely beside the point Remus,”  
“Sure it is. You just happened to give them prank items knowing they would use them on Snape. Who else would they use them on?”  
“I was thinking huge, school wide pranks to make people laugh,”  
“People will be laughing though. They usually laugh at the pranks James and Sirius pull,”  
“I mean laughing at a prank, not laughing at Severus, there is a difference,” 

The boys instantly ran in the door, pulled down the blinds and proceeded to lock the door.   
“What are you doing James?”  
“Well, you see (y/n), my lovely sister. You really do look quite radiant today, did I mention that earlier, a pure ray of sunshine,”  
“James, please stop beating around the bush,”  
“Fine, pranked Snape and as it turns out the trolley lady can be absolutely terrifying,”  
“You’re kidding, you’re scared of the trolly lady?”  
“You haven’t seen her mad ok?”   
“I cannot believe you three. I wanted to get some snacks, but I can’t do that now can i?”  
“I wouldn’t recommend it. She will probably make you pay with our lives,”

The rest of the train ride was mainly uneventful. Though you did become a bit hungry since you couldn’t get any food. By the time you arrived you were quite tired, and Remus was practically holding you up so you wouldn’t collapse in a heap on the ground. Hagrid directed everyone onto the carriages, not that you noticed. All you knew was that Remus was leading you somewhere, and you just hoped that you would end up in a bed.

Everyone was supposed to go to the Great Hall for dinner, but Remus ended up helping you sneak away so you could go to sleep. He found your suitcase already in your room which surprised him. He didn’t realise that the house elves were aware that you had switched rooms. He wondered how many people that weren’t in Gryffindor were aware of the sleeping arrangements. He didn’t dwell on the thought long as he decided to just go through your suitcase and get some pyjamas for you. He found a button upset that you had gotten for Christmas. He promptly unbuttoned them and put them on the bed so you could easily get into them and go to sleep. He then ran back to the Great Hall, hoping no one noticed his absence. 

When everyone returned to their dorms the boys found you asleep, on top of the covers of Remus’s bed. He knew he had put the pyjamas on your bed and that was proven by the discarded robes on your bed. You were fast asleep with your shirt buttoned wrong and Remus wondering how he could get into his bed without waking you.  
“Just move her, she’ll fall back to sleep,”  
“Sirius, I don’t want to wake her?”  
“I swear if the reason you don’t want to wake her is because you are in love with her or something, I swear you won’t wake up,”  
“Thank you, James, but I think if I just slowly move her arm I can get under the covers,”  
The boys watched as Remus very slowly moved your arm. A couple times you stirred but you didn’t properly wake up. After 5 or so minutes Remus had successfully gotten into bed without waking you. Much to the amusement of Peter and Sirius, and the annoyance of James.


	23. Sleeping & More Sleeping

The following morning you woke up, still above the covers with Remus beneath them and freezing cold. At least, you figured it was morning, though it was still pitch-black outside. You stood up and got under the covers in hope that they would help warm you up. As you got in Remus stirred and, in his slumber, he slung his arm over making you smile. Ok maybe Lily was slightly correct, but not by much. You snuggled into him because he was warm, at least that is what you told yourself. Whenever you went to sleep with him you usually had your backs to each other, or at least maintained some distance, but not now. You were cold, and you decided that was reason enough to cuddle up to him. 

“(y/n), stop moving around so much please,” Remus muttered, half asleep. Your eyes flew completely open hoping he hadn’t noticed that you were flush against him. As it turned out he had noticed however instead of pushing you away he used the arm that was sloppily slung over you to pull you just that little bit closer to him. You smiled a bit before closing your eyes again, with your head resting on his chest listening to his heart as you fell asleep. 

Once it was actually day again you and Remus both woke up to Sirius falling out of his bed. He had apparently been so used to having a king-sized bed that he thought he could roll over and had instead managed to roll off the bed whilst tangled up in his sheets.   
“Next time you roll out of bed do it quietly mate, some of us need our beauty sleep,” James muttered,  
“James you need a lot more beauty sleep,”  
“Shove off Sirius,” that was when James looked over and saw that you were still up against Remus with his arm holding you to him. “So, care to explain?”  
“Sure, I was cold, Remus is warm, it’s a single bed. Leave me alone,”  
“You know I only do this because I worry for you?”  
“and you know nothing is going to happen that would need worrying. It’s not like I’m sneaking into the Slytherin dorms and sleeping with Sev,”  
“Ugh don’t even put that thought in my head, I don’t want to picture you sleeping with Remus, let alone that greasy git,” by this point you had sat up to talk to James. After a couple moments Remus lazily grabbed your shoulder and pulled you back down before wrapping his arm around you again to fall back to sleep.  
“You have got to be kidding me,”  
“Sorry James, Remus is asleep again, I’m kind of stuck here. Now every time you look over you will have to see me in bed, cuddled up with Remus,” he snickered slightly at your comment before James walked over and grabbed Remus’s shoulder and pulled him away from you.  
“You having fun Remus? Sleeping with my little sister like this,”  
“Leave me alone James, also you’re her little brother, not the other way around,”  
“Get away from her,”  
“I’m not holding her hostage believe it or not,”  
“You’re despicable,”  
“I’m glad you’re expanding your vocabulary, now let me sleep for another half an hour before I get up,”  
“We have class in an hour, you will miss breakfast,”  
“I don’t care, I want to sleep. Now would you kindly shove off?”  
“At least let my sister get away from you,”  
“Fine, (y/n) if you would like to leave please do so now,” you looked at Remus, then James, then back to Remus before lying back down and closing your eyes.   
“James, that was just sad,”  
“Leave me alone Sirius,”  
“Get away from her, stop sleeping with her,” Sirius mocked, “it’s as if you don’t think she knows what she’s doing,”  
“I don’t think she does, look at her,”  
“And what is she doing exactly?”  
“Preparing to get seriously hurt,”  
“Do you honestly think that Remus would hurt her? If anything, she’d hurt him. If they did date, if he was unhappy with it, I doubt he’d say anything. Besides would you prefer her sleeping with Remus, someone you actually know or some random person like Snape?”  
“You know what I mean Sirius, it’s just weird,”  
“How many times do we have to go over this? Just leave them,”  
“I don’t want to though,”  
“Too bad, now go get dressed, unless you want to go to class in those pyjamas,”   
“Oh Merlin, I didn’t realise I packed these, they’re (y/n)’s,”  
“Doubtful, they fit you too well, you are taller than she is,”  
“Shut it Sirius,” James stormed out of the room with his uniform, much to the amusement of Sirius and Peter. 

“Hey, sleeping lovebirds, wake up! You got your extra half an hour, and we have class in 20 minutes, so if you wanted to get up that would be advisable,”  
“Wake me in ten minutes,” you mumbled, though Remus had actually woken up,  
“(y/n) we have Charms in 15 get up,”  
“Ughhhh, I don’t want to though, can you just conjure an apparition of me? I’m sure Flitwick will be most impressed,”  
“Don’t you want to see Snape?”  
“No, he doesn’t even like me for some reason at this point,”  
“What about Andromeda? We have Charms with her,”  
“She can probably cast a projection of me,”  
“Get up (y/n) c’mon,”  
“Fine, but I promise you, you will not succeed in getting me out of bed often,”  
“I have been getting your out of bed for an entire term, I assure you I will,”  
“That will be changing, the holidays have made me sleepy,”  
“Sirius is strong, if you won’t get up, I will make him drag you,”  
“You wouldn’t dare do that,”  
“If it means getting you to class, yes, yes I will enlist Sirius’s help,”  
“You’re so mean,”  
“I’m glad you think so, now c’mon you aren’t even dressed,” you and Remus both quickly ran around the room trying to get ready, both running out of Gryffindor common room to get to Charms on time. 

You got there a couple of minutes late, not that Flitwick had noticed, he just asked you to take your seats before he started his squeaky lecture on whatever the new charm you were going to start learning about this term. Throughout the lesson your eyes would drift shut and you would rest your head on Remus’s shoulder before he would wake you back up so that Flitwick wouldn’t notice, which he didn’t. However, Andromeda and Severus both did. Andromeda was quite worried and hoped you were alright, though Severus just sneered at you. 

With 10 minutes left of the lesson Remus had had enough of Sev sneering at you every time you started to drift off, or whenever you did anything for that matter. When Severus wasn’t looking, he quickly flicked his wand casting a spell he’d read about. Sev instantly started scratching like crazy. You had heard Remus mutter the incantation and instantly noticed what he had done.   
“Who hexed Mr. Snape?” of course no one answered, “I know it was one of you Gryffindors but who was it, please own up,”  
“It was Lupin professor, I know it was,”  
“You can’t just accuse people of that Mr. Snape,”  
“When his group has been harassing you since day one you can,”  
“Has Mr. Lupin himself ever taken part in this?”  
“Well, no, but,”  
“No buts Mr. Snape, if you have no proof then I suggest you go to the infirmary,” Severus grumbled but did leave the class. 

“Why did you do that?” You asked Remus as you walked out of class  
“He was getting on my nerves,”  
“What did he do? From across the room, I might add,”  
“Every time you started to fall asleep, or rest on my shoulder, or do almost anything he would sneer at you, give you a death glare, that kind of thing,”  
“What? How didn’t I notice that?”  
“You were asleep, that’s why,”  
“Still,”  
“So you annoyed at me?”  
“Not really. I am a bit, I don’t think you should have done it, but it’s not like it was totally uncalled for,”

Every class that day had left you exhausted. You got homework from charms and potions, had study for transfiguration and you needed to practice flying before Thursday. Madam Hooch still didn’t like the way you rode a broom and insisted you learn the proper way. She said you could ride that way once you were out of her class, if you got onto the quidditch team you could ride the way you did. However so long as you are in her class you were supposed to learn the correct method for riding a broom. Remus had promised to help you but that didn’t mean you were happy about having to relearn riding a broom. It was just something that would take up even more of your time.

“I can’t believe how much work I have, I’m swamped,”  
“Don’t be so dramatic, we aren’t even in second year, imagine when we are studying for our NEWTS,”  
“Oh, I’ll take a lot of potions to get me through all-nighters,”  
“Of course, you will,”


	24. Death Glaring A Book

“(Y/N) POTTER,” Lily yelled across the courtyard as she made her way towards you and your group sitting under a tree,  
“Oh, hey Lils, you ok?”  
“No, I am most certainly not ok. Why would you do that to Sev?”  
“Do what to him? I haven’t done anything,”  
“That hex during Charms, he told me about it, why would you do that to him?”  
“First of all, the entire lesson he was giving me death glares, side eyes etcetera, he has been horrible to me since Christmas with no explanation as to why. Secondly, I didn’t even do it, because I was so damn tired, I was falling asleep half the lesson, even I wanted to hex him, I’d have missed, and probably messed up the wand movement,”  
“Then who was it?”  
“Doesn’t matter who did it, does it?”  
“Yes, it most certainly does matter who did it. What’s happening to you?”  
“How does it matter? Sev isn’t going to do anything about it anyway. Also, what’s happening to me? I’m not the one who is turning on their friends, I’m not the one accusing their friends of hexing someone when they were half asleep. You’re the who’s changing, not me,”  
“So, you’re calling him a pushover?”  
“I never said that don’t put words in my mouth,”  
“I know you didn’t say it, however it was implied, wasn’t it?”  
“You can interpret my words whatever way you want, I doubt you would listen anyway,”  
“You should have been in Slytherin,”  
“Because I’m cunning? I can see more than one dimension of things instead of blindingly trusting everything? You definitely should be in Gryffindor though, you are bold as anything and go up to people to confront them for doing something they didn’t do,”  
“Why are you like this to me?”  
“I could ask you the same,” it was at that moment James decided it was his moment,  
“Hey Evans,”  
“What do you want Potter?”  
“I was thinking, if you aren’t friends with (y/n) anymore, maybe we could give it a shot,”  
“Give what a shot?”  
“Us of course, give us a shot. Who knows we might make for a good couple,”  
“In your dreams Potter. Think about what I said (y/n),” Lily walked away, likely to Severus.  
“(y/n)?”  
“Yeah, what is it James?”  
“What is happening with Evans and you?”  
“I don’t have a clue. Sev was mad at me when I saw Lils at Christmas. I don’t think he’s forgiven me for whatever I’ve done. Then this morning in charms I was falling asleep and kept resting on Remus’s shoulder. Sev was apparently giving me a lot of death glares, and sneers so Remus hexed him with some itching spell. I’m guessing he told Lily and she thinks I did it,”  
“Well then, would you like to join in on our prank for Snape later?”  
“No, but I will encourage it,”  
“Better than nothing I suppose, by the end of the year I will have you pranking Snape with us,”  
“Probably a good chance of it,”  
“Admitting it huh? Even better. Anyway, we better get going, this prank isn’t going to set itself up. Remus, please continue hexing Snape, maybe you will join with the pranks as well soon,” Remus rolled his eyes as he continued reading.

The boys walked away, and you slumped against Remus.  
“You alright (y/n)?”’  
“I don’t know what I did wrong. Why does he hate me now?”  
“He isn’t the friendliest person though, is he?”  
“Well, no, but he was at least civil, he tolerated me because I was Lily’s friend. Now he out right hates me and has gotten Lily to hate me as well,”  
“Maybe they heard rumours that you sneak out with me every full moon,”  
“Doubtful, Lily is too busy looking into magical beauty products and Severus has his nose too far in a book to hear any rumours,”  
“Wow, didn’t think I’d find you pulling punches at those two,”  
“I didn’t either, but there’s a first for everything I suppose,”  
“You had better not talk about me like that,”  
“Why would I? And who would I even tell? James? He’d be worse than me and you know it,”  
“I don’t want to think about that, I’d like to imagine that he would only say the best about me,”  
“You’re sleeping with his sister, what do you think he’d say?”  
“That’s why I don’t go too far into it,”  
“You do know that he doesn’t actually hate you right?”  
“He’s always mad at me because I have done something or other. I’d gladly bet that he does indeed hate me. Wouldn’t you if you were him?”  
“If he could get Lily, I’d be cheering for him. True, he doesn’t like that you are sleeping with me, but he doesn’t hate you for it. He’d prefer it if you didn’t of course, but it’s James, even if he did hate you, he’d be fine within a few days,”  
“It’s been months,”  
“Fine, he’ll be ok within a few months maybe a few years. Happy?”  
“No that makes it even worse. You are terrible at this,”  
“You don’t make it easy. I tell you the truth, you rebut it, I amend the truth you get annoyed. What do you expect me to do?”  
“Be quiet and let me read my book,”  
“Very well, I will read a book as well,” with that you stopped talking and didn’t make a noise for half an hour. By that point Remus was beginning to wonder if someone had silencioed you. He turned around to see you staring quite angrily at a book, though you didn’t seem to be reading it. Rolling his eyes, he continued to check on you every minute or so to see if you would ever change the page, which you didn’t. By the time it was dinner Remus decided to have a bit of fun with you.

“So how was the book you were reading? You were looking at it quite intently,”  
“Very interesting,”  
“Oh, was it? What was it about? I might give it a try if it was so good,”  
“I don’t think you would like it very much, wasn’t very good,”  
“I thought you said it was interesting,” you looked at him sheepishly at that, “Did you know that i noticed you weren’t reading about half an hour in? After that every minute or so I would check to see if you had changed the page. Instead of turning the pages you just stared at the same paragraph for ages, quite angrily I might add. It was quite funny to watch, after all it isn’t every day I get to see you death glare a book,”  
“You noticed that? Why would you ask me then?”  
“Like I said, it was funny to watch you. What were you thinking about anyway?”  
“How annoyed I was at Lily for getting so mad at me and siding with Snape,”  
“Snape huh? When did he go from Sev to Severus to Snape?”  
“While I was staring at the book. If he’s going to treat me like this, I’m not using his name,”  
“Is Lily going to be addressed as Evans now as well?”  
“I haven’t philosophised enough to get to that yet,”

You and Remus got to the table to see the rest of the group grinning at you.   
“(y/n), Remus! You will not believe what James did,” Peter whisper shouted,  
“Do tell, what have you done?”  
“Snape will probably walk in soon, when he does, he will sit at the end of the table and when he does this slimy substance will cover him,”  
“Does this substance have any irritation properties?”  
“Not a clue, I don’t know what it was, I just found something in Slughorn’s personal potion stores. I duplicated it with a spell I got off a 6th year,” you knew that what James had done could hurt Snape but you doubted James got a particularly dangerous potion so it would probably be fine. However, even if it wasn’t you wouldn’t be particularly sad about it. After you had all started eating Snape walked in, and he sat exactly where James said he would. 

As soon as he was seated the potions spilled from above him, coating him in the disgusting grimy looking potion. He started screaming as he tried to get it off of himself. Even from across the hall you could see it had burnt through the top couple layers of his skin in seconds. James, Sirius and Peter all started laughing like they hadn’t laughed before whilst you and Remus snickered slightly and quirked your lips at him. Snape got up and ran out of the Great Hall, still trying to get the potion off of him.  
“The potion didn’t hurt me when I touched it,”  
“That’s because potions gain negative traits when duplicated, especially multiple times,” you replied. Looking to your left you saw Lily staring daggers at you and your group.

After dinner you and the group were all leaving the Great Hall when McGonagall intercepted you.  
“Professor Dumbledore would like to speak with all of you, immediately,”


	25. Bad News

The five of you immediately made your way towards Dumbledore’s office, though you all dragged your feet a bit to make the journey just that little bit slower. James and Sirius seemed a bit worried but at the same time it was clear they thought that dumbledore would congratulate them. Peter looked like he had peed himself in fear by the way he was walking whilst you and Remus were trying to stay calm. Remus was calmer than you since he had absolutely nothing to do with it, though you had told James and Sirius that you supported the idea so you were close to hyperventilating. You were trying hard not to let it show but you must have done a pretty bad job of it because Remus grabbed your hand and stroked it a bit to calm you. You looked over at him and gave you a small smile. 

By the time you had arrived you had calmed down a bit, though James and Sirius looked a lot more like Peter. The Griffin was open, and you all walked inside. There was already enough chairs and Dumbledore gestured for all of you to sit. You and Remus sat to the left, Peter the far right, Sirius next to Peter and James in the middle.  
“I trust you all know why you are here?”  
“Yeah, ‘cause Sirius and I pranked Snape during dinner,”  
“Dude. Way to through me under the bus. Was that necessary?”  
“Was it only you and Mr. Black?”  
“Peter helped, but it was mainly Sirius and I,”  
“Why are you just telling him? Just say it was none of us,”  
“I don’t know. It’s just coming out,”  
“Did (y/n) or Remus have anything to do with it?”  
“No, they were aware that something was going to happen, but they didn’t know. Also why are you using their names but not ours?”  
“We have our little chats every once in a while. Any who, Mr. Potter, Mr. Black and Mr. Pettigrew, you will all serve detention with Filch every night for the next two weeks. 15 points from each of you. I trust you understand why it is wrong to prank other students in the way you prank Mr. Snape. When you prank someone, it is usually best not to draw so much attention to it,”  
“Are you telling us to just not get caught in future?”  
“You understand me incorrectly, I am merely saying it would be beneficial if no one catches you doing these pranks,” Dumbledore responded, winking.  
“Will that be all sir?”  
“Yes, you may leave, good evening,” you all bade him goodbye before quickly exiting his office. None of you spoke the entire way back to your room. As soon as you got to your room you all started getting ready for bed as you were all quite tired. You started getting into Remus’s bed when your parent’s owl started rapping on your window. You got up to get the letter and give the owl a treat, though when he didn’t leave you assumed you were supposed to send a response back.

Dear (y/n),

Your father and I am very sorry to have to tell you like this, but we didn’t think a Patronus would be the best idea in case you are in an area with a lot of people around you. I’m afraid that your dog became quite ill earlier today, we took them to the vet, but they couldn’t do anything. Apparently, Squirt was born with some medical term and was destined to a short life. I am so sorry darling, and I wish I could be there for you. Please tell James and perhaps that friend of yours, Lily, I think her name is. Please write back and tell me how you are. 

On another, happier, note how has school been? I hope it has been going well even though you have been there only a day, how much can really happen in that time? 

All of my love,  
Euphemia Potter

You burst into tears and sat down on the cold stone floor, the tears streaming down your cheeks as sobbed, and choked on the tears.   
“(y/n) what’s wrong?” Remus asked as he quickly came over to you,  
“Squirt, my, my dog. She died earlier today, had something when she was, destined to a… a short life,” Remus quickly gave you a hug and you leant against his chest as James came over and patted your shoulder, as if it was going to help,  
“I’m sorry (y/n). I know you loved that dog. You alright?”  
“Thanks, and does it look like I’m alright, I didn’t even get a proper goodbye. I thought I was going to see her at the end of the term, so I didn’t even stop to remember the way her bark sounded, how her fur felt, how… how she would sleep with me,” your tears started back up again, probably making Remus’s pyjama shirt rather wet from your tears. 

It took you a good ten or so minutes for Remus to get you to calm down enough to get you to stand up and walk over to the bed so you could at least lie down since you were all tired. You just sat on the edge of the bed crying. Sirius eventually came over and gave you a hug, trying to get you to calm down, though he gave up since it was clear he was getting nowhere.  
“Can you stop crying? I want some sleep, it was just a dog after all,”  
“Shut it Peter, now is not the time. You might not like her a lot but please just shut it,”  
“No Sirius, I’m not going to ‘shut it’. We all need sleep, and she is just keeping us all awake because her dog died. Grow up, it’s the circle of life, things are born, they die. So, for Merlin’s sake if you would just stop crying, it is so annoying listening to you sniffling and crying. If I go to hell my ears will be full of you crying,” everyone looked at Peter as if he had been the one to kill Squirt. Sirius quickly made his way to Peter before punching him square in the face.  
“She is hurting, if she’s bothering you then you can sleep on the couch in the common room,” Peter sneered at Sirius before doing as he suggested and left the room. Everyone else came over and started trying to soothe you again.  
“I know it hurts, but maybe if you at least write back to your mum you can get some of this off your shoulders,” you nodded your head and started writing, staining the parchment with your tears.  
Dear mother,

School has been ok. Severus doesn’t like me for some reason, Lily has sided with him, so I’m down two friends, sadly. Though they are being utterly horrible, so I’m not particularly saddened by that. James and Sirius decided to prank Snape quite terribly, poured duplicated potion on him and now they have detention for two weeks. (What were you saying about not much happening in the span of a day?)

I am really upset about Squirt. I thought I’d get to see her again, pat her, hold her. Maybe I am just being sentimental, I haven’t even had her for a month. But it still really hurts, im sure you understand that. 

Love you as well,  
(y/n) Potter

After sending off the letter you lay down next to Remus and you snuggled up to him, and he put his arms around you. You hadn’t stopped crying, but it had eased a bit. Sirius came over and got into bed with you and Remus. He, like Remus, put his arms around you. You turned your head and whispered a small thank you. 

Across the room James was sitting there looking at the three of you. He wasn’t happy about them holding you so close to them, but he was coming around to the idea more and more. You were right that he would prefer you to be with them than to be with someone like Snape. However, he was still protective of you, even if you were older. He wanted the best for you, and he didn’t want to see you in a position where you would possibly get hurt. He knew that you also weren’t going to date anyone for a few years at least. He liked that Remus was always there for you, that he continued to have your back. It was right then that he decided he would stop giving you a hard time about sleeping in the same bed. If he had to choose someone for you to end up with, he probably would have chosen Remus as well. He realised that was pretty messed up for him to think that he would or should have any say in the matter, but he was happier with it at least. He still loved you, after all and hoped you wouldn’t be as sad about Squirt come morning.


	26. Smelling Amortentia

When morning did come you didn’t think about Squirt, at least not at first. Your first thought was how hot you were. Remus and Sirius where both still hugging you and you were under the blankets. You wanted to get up but at the same time you didn’t want to wake them, so you just lay there waiting for them to wake up. You were so preoccupied thinking about the heat that you didn’t even think about Squirt. Sirius was the first to wake up,  
“Morning (y/n), you look better than you did last night,”  
“Morning Sirius, I have bed hair, did I really look that bad last night?”  
“Oh, you definitely did. You looked like what I thought the monster under my bed looked like when I was 6. Turns out it was Kreacher having some fun,”  
“Sirius! You are absolutely terrible, I did not look that bad,”  
“(y/n), Sirius is right, you looked a mess,”  
“Remus why are you taking his side on this? He said I looked like Kreacher,”  
“Your tear-stained face and hair that has been messed up from your hands running through it would have given 6-year-old Sirius nightmares. Though I think that pygmy puffs could have given him nightmares,”  
“I looked as cute as a pygmy puff?”  
“No, you definitely looked more like Kreacher, but your expression told me I should amend my statement if I wanted to make it to the end of the day with all my limbs intact,”  
“Angry (y/n) is a person I don’t want to cross in my life,”  
“You guys are ridiculously rude this morning,”  
“I was under the impression you enjoyed our banter,”  
“Oh I do, but when people who look like Acromantulas say you look like Kreacher,”  
“(y/n) how dare you. I am ridiculously handsome, I mean just look at me, what girl could resist my charm?” Sirius responded  
“Me, I am a girl, and I can easily resist your, what did you call it? Charm?”  
“You wound me (y/n),”  
“You got wounded by an 11-year-old girl? How embarrassing,”  
“Oh my god guys just get up,” James said, sitting in his bed looking entirely unimpressed. You all rolled your eyes but did get out of bed, the cool air hitting your skin making you sigh in relief, the heat of the bed had gotten pretty bad afterall.

At breakfast you were all sitting together when Peter walked in,  
“Hey guys,” he mumbled sitting next to James,  
“Do you want to say anything?” Sirius prompted,  
“No, what would I want to say?”   
“Apologising to (y/n) would be a good idea,”   
“My most sincere apology (y/n), you aren’t annoying, you are a ray of sunshine, I can’t believe what I said to you last night,” Peter said in the most sarcastic tone he could,  
“You suck at apologising,” Sirius responded, hitting Peter over the head,  
“Fine, sorry (y/n)”  
“It’s fine I guess,” you responded before resuming conversation with Remus. You didn’t particularly want to talk to Peter anyway. Remus, Sirius and James were actually decent people after all. Something about Peter rubbed you the wrong way, but you couldn’t place what it was, so you decided to drop it and figure it out later.  
“C’mon guys let’s just go to potions,” James suggested a couple minutes after Peter arrived. You all got up and left the Great Hall as quickly as you could as you were all still annoyed at Peter’s comment the previous night.

“Early are we? No matter, please come in take your seats,” Professor Slughorn said in his typical cheery voice as you entered the room. You were the first students to arrive, and you watched as Professor Slughorn finished a potion.  
“Curious are you? This is an interesting little potion called amortentia, it is a love potion, if you smell it, you smell whatever attracts you most or what your soulmate smells like if you have one. I’m sure you are aware only 40% of the wizarding population has a soulmate. It can also create an intense feeling of obsession, quite similar to an obsessive version of love. It’s for my 6th years who I have next lesson. Would you like to smell it?” all of you looked up at him before looking between yourselves and getting up. You all walked to the front of the room and James was the first to smell it.   
“It has a floral scent to me, sort of like Evans’s perfume,” Sirius choked on his laughter when James said that, Sirius was next.  
“I smell something kind of homey, like cottage in the woods after it’s been raining, mixed with the smell of freshly baked biscuits,” you were next,  
“Um, I don’t know what I smell. Actually, scratch that, um, I don’t know how to describe it, it smells like how I would envision being held in my darkest moments. Does that even make sense?”  
“(y/n) my girl, that means you have a soulmate quite a strong connection at that. Why, a scent like that, you probably already know them,”  
“Well that’s a scary thought, there aren’t many people I know that I would even want to spend my entire life with,”  
“Just because you are destined to be with them doesn’t mean that you will always be compatible though. You may only work when you are both in your twenties. There are probably some books on it in the library, but you will know when you find them, there is what the muggles call a spark, though for witches and wizards it quite literally feels like all your senses are heightened, you can feel your blood rushing through all your veins. It is supposed to be one of the best experiences imaginable,”  
“How do you feel it? Is it when you touch them for the first time or like a conversation?”  
“It’s usually when you kiss them. Imagine 5-year-old soulmates holding hands and feeling that, they would probably forget about it quite quickly,”  
“So, I should just go around kissing everyone I know?”  
“You could, but I don’t think that would be the best way of doing it,”   
“Yeah, I suppose not. Oh yeah, Remus you haven’t tried it yet,” Remus stepped up looking a little scared. He sniffed it a bit, then again looking a bit paler,  
“Well my boy, what do you smell?”  
“Oh um, it doesn’t smell like anything, more a feeling,”  
“What is this feeling?”  
“I’m not sure, I can’t exactly place it,”  
“Can you envision the person? Your soulmate I mean?”  
“Sort of, but she’s hazy, I couldn’t tell you any of her features, but I can still almost see her,”  
“Well if you can at least identify she’s female you have ruled about half the population,” It was at that point that everyone else started filing in. You all returned to your seats to begin the lesson.

“Hey (y/n). You alright? You seem a little off,”  
“I just smelled this potion, it is supposed to smell like what attracts you most, but if it smells like a feeling, if that makes any sense at all, it means you have a soulmate,”  
“So, what did you smell? Was it me? You’re so obsessed with me I wouldn’t be surprised,”  
“Haha, I love you to bits ‘Dromeda but not like that. It smelt like hug on my darkest days,”  
“Oh my Merlin, that is so cute. Any idea who it is?”  
“Uh, not really,”  
“Did the guys smell it too?”  
“Yeah, James smelt Lily’s perfume, unsurprisingly. Sirius smelt cookies in a cottage after it’s been raining and Remus has a soulmate,”  
“Maybe it’s Remus, you two get on like a house on fire,”  
“’Dromeda, James would kill both of us if we ever got together,”  
“I think it’s Remus, you aren’t changing my mind. How do you find out who it is? Also, if James tried to kill you and Remus, I promise you, I will bind him and make him watch you make out,”  
“Oh my Merlin, don’t you dare, that’s terrible of you to say,”  
“You didn’t answer my question,”  
“You kiss them, when you can feel all your senses heighten, your blood rushing through your veins, something euphoric. You know it’s them,”  
“So, I just need to figure out how to get you and Remus to kiss then, maybe ill make one of you trip and just happen to land on the other’s mouth,”  
“Good luck finding the right spell for that,”  
“I will, don’t worry, I will spend the entirety of every lunch and night reading books finding the spell,”  
“And if it isn’t Remus?”  
“I’ll make you fall onto every guy that goes to our school,”  
“But what about the guys I would never want to kiss,”  
“I’ll make you kiss them first, why who wouldn’t you want to kiss,”  
“Snape, I don’t ever want to kiss him, let alone spend my life with him,”  
“After Remus, I will make you kiss him to find out, unless of course your soulmate is Remus. Hoping it’s Remus now,”  
“Yeah, a bit,”  
“So you do like him, wow I’m good at this,”  
“You are not,”  
“Oh, I so am, I just need to threaten you with kissing Snape, you will do whatever I want,”


	27. Opinions of Friends

As you and Andromeda brewed your potion, she had continued to ask you about your relationship with your friends,  
“So, Peter, tell me,”  
“Ugh, I swear he hates me. I found out my dog Squirt died yesterday, and I was crying. He told me to be quiet so he could sleep. I don’t have half a clue what I did to him,”  
“Other than that, what do you think?”  
“I dunno, he’s just, he rubs me the wrong way if that makes sense, I just can’t place the feeling but something about him doesn’t sit right with me,”  
“Mhm ok, what about James?”  
“I love him to death, we have known each other since the womb so we are pretty close. We don’t get on all the time and he hates how close I am with Remus but he’s just protective even though I’m older. We care about each other. Kind of relationship where I’d give him an organ, but I won’t share a quill. You get that?”  
“That’s me with Bella and ‘Cissa. Now then, Sirius,”  
“Not as close with him but he is ridiculously funny. Couldn’t fault him if I tried, he makes me laugh when I want to cry,”  
“Maybe he’s your soulmate then,”  
“Doubtful, I love him but in a friend kind of way,”  
“So, what about Remus?”  
“I love him to bits, again, as a friend. Easily my closest friend, I spend most of my spare time with him and I sleep with him after all. You would really hope I would at least like him by this point,”  
“You really are just confirming my suspicions that he’s your soulmate,”  
“I love him as a friend, I don’t know if I’ll ever see him as anything else,”  
“I don’t believe you, I just need some veritaserum. Do you think sir would let me have some so I can find out how you actually feel?”  
“I doubt it, it’s pretty difficult to make isn’t it?”  
“Fair point, anyway, moving on, Snape,”  
“I don’t know. He barely spoke to me when we were on speaking terms, now he won’t even look at me, I don’t even know what started it. Well, that’s a lie. Turns out Squirt was his and I found her and kept her. But he didn’t know that the entire time and he still seemed to hate me. I wouldn’t mind him if he was polite to me, but he isn’t, he just annoys me now. I’ll probably end up joining in on James’s pranks ‘cause they are pretty funny. They are mean as well but if he is going to be a crappy person to me, I may as well pay it forward, you get me?”  
“Yeah, that makes perfect sense. Lily?”  
“She was so sweet, one of my closest girlfriends, after you of course. She was cheerful and conversations with her never became laboured, she was always just so happy to talk with me and everyone really. I don’t know what happened, she just sided with Snape. Unless I find out why she did this and it’s a valid reason or she apologies or there are some extenuating circumstances I’m not going back to her,”  
“I thought you liked her though,”  
“Yeah, but at the same time, if she just ditches me for an unknown reason and acts completely hostile why would I go back? I want a valid reason, that isn’t too much to ask for is it?”  
“I suppose not, anyway moving on Cissa,”  
“Classy as anything, could do without listening to make out sessions with Lucius though. However, I do like her, not super close with her but I still consider her a close friend,”  
“Lucius,”  
“I barely know the guy. The main things I know about him is that he has blonde hair, he’s a Malfoy, he’s rich as anything and he likes having his tongue down your sister’s throat,”  
“Ok, you have a point there, Bella,”  
“Love her to bits, she is kinda dark but in a good way. It’s annoying that she’s in the year above, I would have loved for her to be in the same year as us,”  
“Ok, last but definitely not least, opinions of me,”  
“Oh, where to begin, sweetest person. You’re kinda quiet but I love you regardless. You are a great study partner and your surprisingly accepting of muggle borns and half-bloods considering you’re a Black,”  
“My sisters hate it, so do my parents. You know that kid Ted Tonks?”  
“Yeah of course, he’s a Hufflepuff isn’t he?”  
“Correct, I have Transfiguration and Astronomy with him. He is so sweet, I think if I smelt that love potion,”  
“Amortentia,”  
“Fine, I think if I smelt the Amortentia I would smell him,”  
“You’ve known him what? 3 months? You’re in love already?”  
“You don’t know him, he is so sweet and deadly smart, I swear he could out manoeuvre McGonagall in a verbal battle,”  
“If they started battling him, she’d hex the crap out of him,”  
“He would put up a fair fight,”  
“He is so good at school,”  
“That is quite possibly one of the worst reasons to be attracted to someone. School only lasts a few years. You won’t be in school when you get married,”  
“I know but there’s something about him, I want to marry him,”  
“What about your parents?”  
“Oh, I’ll be disowned for sure,”  
“You could probably live with me,”  
“I’d live with Ted,”  
“Oh yeah, forgot bout that. I hate how families will kick you out for loving someone,”  
“I know, it’s unfair but I will make something really amazing of myself, show them what they lost. Is that petty?”  
“Not in the slightest, you will become a kick ass witch,”  
“thanks (y/n), also I think we have successfully ruined the potion,” you had both forgotten about the potion entirely and it had stayed on the heat for a bit too long.  
“Should we start over?”  
“We don’t have much of class left, no point,”   
“Sir, can we have some assistance?” you called out  
“Oh (y/n) my girl, what seems to have happened?”  
“We lost track of time a bit and let it boil for a bit too long,”  
“Oh yes I can see that, if you add some powdered moonstone it should fix it, just a pinch or so until it returns to the correct colour, then proceed,”  
“Thanks sir,” you and Andromeda continued to brew your potion. By the end of the class it rivalled even Lily’s and Snape’s. 

Professor Slughorn made you all write an essay on the potion you had brewed for homework which was due next Tuesday. You and Andromeda decided you would both work on it during lunch since you didn’t end up studying with her on Monday as you usually did.   
“I think ‘Cissa said Lucius was going to sneak into the kitchens and get us some snacks for today,”  
“Oh great, now we just need a picnic blanket,”  
“I’ll remind you that myself and my sisters are Slytherin, we don’t exactly frolic around the courtyards with picnic blankets, more of a Gryffindor thing,”  
“We could have a picnic in the library,”  
“That is quite possibly one of the most ridiculous notions you have ever come up with. Madam Pince would have our heads for that,”  
“Well, it’s a good thing we are young and could outrun her,”  
“She could out magic us though,”  
“Let’s just ignore that detail, shall we?”  
“Yes, perhaps we should ignore it, however we are not having a picnic in the library or anywhere else. Do that with your other group, the one with your soulmate,”  
“’Dromeda! We don’t even know if he is my soulmate and the chances of it are so slim, I mean, 40% of the population has one that’s at least a billion people it could be,”  
“But Slughorn said you had probably already met yours because of how strong it was, same as Remus,”  
“True, but. Wait, how do you know that?”  
“Oh, I was standing outside for a bit, I wanted to hear,”  
“You shouldn’t be eavesdropping ‘Dromeda,”  
“Calm down, I’m just practicing for when I need to eavesdrop for real. Besides my point still stands, you two get on like a house on fire and you have both met your soulmate. So, if you two would just kiss each other and put this to rest,”  
“I’m not kissing anyone because you want to find out who my soulmate is,”  
“Besides even if he is my soulmate, I wouldn’t even want to date him for a couple years at least. Wouldn’t that make it worse? Knowing someone is my soulmate but not being ready for a relationship?”  
“If you’re soulmates you could make it work, besides you already practically act like a couple. All that’s left is the make out sessions in the middle of the library that make people want to hurl, like a couple we know,”  
“’Dromeda, I wouldn’t do that with anyone, well not in public,”

Remus, who had been sitting behind you the entire time had no clue how to feel. He had lied earlier when he said he couldn’t see the person. The person was hazy, but he was sure it was you, Andromeda was sure of it as well. But you didn’t see him like that, at least that’s what you said, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it.


	28. Studying or Planning for Pranks?

After Charms, which was third period you and Andromeda made your way to the library to do your potions essay and study with Trix, Cissa, and Lucius. You and ‘Dromeda were the first to arrive so you found a table and started setting up. As you sat down Trix came up behind you and grabbed your shoulders as she made a quick growl like noise to scare you. You jumped and inhaled quickly before realising who it was,  
“Oh Merlin Trix, was that necessary?”  
“Yes, completely and utterly,”  
“You will be the death of me, I am sure of it,”  
“With all my study of the dark arts I’m sure I could achieve it and have no one know who did it,”  
“’Dromeda would know,”  
“She wouldn’t sell me out. She just lost one of her best friends, I doubt she would want to lose another person,”  
“You underestimate me Bella,”  
“You would rat me out to the Ministry? My own sister?”  
“If you killed (y/n) then yes I would. If you had the guts to kill her then there wouldn’t be a person on this planet you wouldn’t be willing to kill,”  
“I don’t hold (y/n) above every other person, but you are correct that there would be almost no one I wouldn’t,”  
“Well, that’s a comforting thought,” you said  
“Bella won’t get much more comforting than that, good luck getting gmore out of her,”  
“Is that a challenge?”  
“Not really, but if you want her to be more comforting, you’re welcome to try”  
“I think I’ll pass on that. I have other things to do,”  
“You’re no fun,”  
“We have homework. I’ll be fun when it’s finished,” with that you all sat down and started working on your potions essay. About half an hour later, when Bella and ‘Dromeda had both also started with their homework Narcissa and Lucius came in,  
“Sorry we are late, we got the food then that Snape kid started bothering me. Isn’t he in your year Andy? Black hair, bit greasy,” Lucius said as he and Narcissa put a half a tonne of pastries and desserts on the table for everyone to start eating. There were cannolis, pain au chocolats, croissants with ham and cheese as well as some brownies and a merengue or two which was quickly snatched up by Bellatrix.   
“Yeah, he was (y/n)’s friend, what was he doing?”  
“He seems to look up to me or something I don’t know. Since I’m the 3rd year Slytherin representative, which has absolutely no meaning other than a fancy title and a badge he seems to think I can and will help him get back at some Gryffindors who are pulling pranks on him. Apparently they are the ones who dropped that goop on him,”  
“Yeah, that was James and Sirius. What did you tell him?”  
“The troublesome Gryffindors are your brother and your group? Good thing I told him to deal with it himself. He’s annoying and speaks as if he forgets the next word every single time. Hi… I’m… boring… annoys the hell out of me. If I was in Gryffindor, I’d probably prank him too, or at least join your brother,”  
“What was he planning to do to James?”  
“Give him veritaserum in his drink at dinner. You might want to stop him from drinking anything, or just avoiding dinner in general just in case,”  
“Alternatively, I could do that to him, prove to my brother I can pull pranks too,”  
“Near the end of lunch, I’ll go with you to the kitchens then, ask the elves to help out. Though I must warn you that Dumbledore will kill you for this”  
“Thanks Lucius, didn’t think you would help me out with anything. Dumbledore won’t kill me, he likes me”  
“I’m not only here because I’m dating ‘Cissa you know. Dumbledore likes you? What do you do? Go for tea with him every other week?”  
“More or less yeah. Every month Remus and I end up having tea, and lemon drops. That guy has an obsession I’m telling you. He has a full jar of them, by the end of the conversation Remus and I have had a couple, and he’s eaten a good twenty, maybe 30 of them,”  
“You’re quite close with the Lupin boy aren’t you (y/n)?” Bella asked  
“They both smelled Amortentia before potions started because Slughorn brewed some for the 6th years and asked if they wanted to smell it. They both did and both had that weird thing you get if you have a soulmate. They are so close I’m sure they are each other’s soulmates but she keeps saying ‘he’s just a friend’, even though it is so damn obvious she likes him,” Andromeda responded,  
“I like him a bit, but not like a proper crush or anything,”  
“What!” Andromeda almost yelled, “Why didn’t you say that in class?”  
“When literally anyone could have heard?”  
“What if Remus heard?”   
“I doubt he likes me like that anyway,”  
“Dude he was behind us, after you said you didn’t like him the guy he’s partnered with had to half yell at Remus to resume his part of the potion, yes he likes you,”  
“Oh Merlin, you’re kidding me, right? I mean I have a bit of a crush on him, but I wouldn’t date him regardless ‘til maybe fourth year,”  
“But at least you would both know,”  
“Well, I can’t very well go apologise to him,”  
“Good thing he’s over there,” you head spun quickly to see Remus trying to find a book on Defence, which just happened to be the closest bookshelf to you, whilst the rest of your group was a bit further away, definitely out of earshot. There was a small smile playing on him lips as he struggled to keep his eyes on the books and not looking over at you which would admit he had heard. Lucius quickly got up and swiftly made his way over to Remus, much to your horror. When you noticed he was too close, and you wouldn’t get to him, so you just sat there hating the situation.

“Yeah, he heard what you said, looks pretty happy too if I do say so myself,” Lucius said as he sat back down next to Narcissa,  
“What the hell did you say? Why did you even go over?”  
“I asked if he heard what you had said, and I did it because I wanted to know for sure,”  
“Brilliant, thank you for that,”  
“I just confirmed that he heard. Asking didn’t change whether or not he heard,”  
“Did anything else happen?”  
“Yeah, I think I managed to scare him,”  
“What! How did you manage that?”  
“You’ll… find… I… can… be… very… scary… just… by… being… myself,” you all burst out in fits of laughter at as Lucius mocked Snape,  
“You scared him by being yourself,”  
“That and I walked as if I owned the world, might have looked at him with disdain,”  
“Of course, you did. Oh Merlin, what has happened to my life?”  
“Your life has gotten infinitely better. You like him, he likes you, you’re probably soulmates,”  
“I have a small crush on him, he might like me, we might be soulmates, my friend just traumatised him, I’ve lost two of my friends,”  
“You’re pranking one of them later though,”  
“(y/n), let’s go. I doubt you want to be here much longer, and we need to go to the kitchens,” Lucius suggested, breaking off Andy’s comment,  
“Yeah, alright,” you said quickly packing up your things and standing up. The two of you walked out of the library together and walked in silence to the kitchens. You had never been there before so you were just hoping that Lucius wasn’t going to lock you in some abandoned classroom. You stopped at a painting where Lucius tickled the pear and stepped back a bit. The painting disappeared and you followed Lucius through the hole in the wall into the kitchens. They were surprisingly clean and looked modern as well. 

“Misty?” Lucius called out,  
“Oh young Mr. Malfoy and young Miss, how may Misty be of service?” a small elf asked. She was quite young and wore a toga made of deep green velvet with little lions, eagles badgers and snakes woven into it. She had large glasses as well which made her appearance quite amusing, though she still looked quite respectable.  
“Would you be able to put some Veritaserum into Severus Snape’s food tonight?”  
“What will you do in return?”  
“I have some material you can use,” Lucius interjected holding out a pale green cotton material,  
“Very well, it shall be there, is there anything else?”  
“Has anyone asked you to put anything in James Potter’s or Sirius Black’s food or drink?”  
“Yes, Severus Snape,”  
“Thank you, Misty, that will be all,” Lucius said leading you out of the kitchen.  
“That was easier than I realised,”  
“It’s easy if you know who to talk to, now go off to class Potter. Don’t want to be seen with the likes of you, blood traitor as you are,” he mocked  
“See ya later Malfoy,” you sneered  
“If I catch you being tardy, I’ll dock points,” he called out to you  
“You wouldn’t dare,” you yelled back as he turned the corner, snickering at your comment.


	29. Following in Your Brother's Footsteps

You ran into History of Magic a few minutes late earning you a rather annoyed look from Professor Binns as you took your seat between Lily and Remus. You started unpacking your things and getting ready for the inevitably boring lecture you were about to endure. Remus gave you a small smile and you saw Lily roll her eyes at you as if your presence was some sort of cruel and unfair punishment. James who was on the other side of Remus saw her do it but he was so in love with her he messed up his hair and tried to look attractive. Issue was that he instead just made himself look rather idiotic and you snickered at James’s attempts. When Binns had his back turned you tore off a piece of parchment and wrote a quick note to James,  
I thought you didn’t think it was right for siblings to like their sibling’s friends. Also, your brilliant sister has something planned for dinner tonight, total extravaganza, you will love it.   
P.S don’t drink anything at dinner  
Yours not so truly, (y/n)  
You quickly slipped the parchment over to James and watched him read it. James started trying not to laugh at what you had written and ended up making that strange choking noise when you try to stop yourself from laughing. When Remus looked at him like he was crazy James showed him the note even Remus found it hard not to at least smile.   
“(y/n) what are you planning?”  
“My most sincere apologies Remus, but that is strictly confidential information which is only privy to myself, Trix, Andy, Cissa, Lucius and a house elf,”  
“(y/n) what are you planning to do? Tell me,” Lily demanded  
“Absolutely nothing. Besides why would I tell you? You just act indifferent towards me,”  
“Not my fault I do that,”  
“Not your fault? Who unless you are under the imperius curse it is completely and utterly your fault for treating me like this,”  
“Sev doesn’t want me around you,”  
“Considering you put an expiration date on your friendship with him I’m surprised you would do that. Unless of course our friendship had an even earlier expiration,”  
“C’mon (y/n), it’s not like that. It’s Sev, he’s my best friend,”  
“That doesn’t mean you ignore me Lils, just leave me alone,”  
“Lily turned back to her book looking a bit upset,”  
“(y/n),” you didn’t hear him, “(y/n), can we switch seats?” that time you heard him,  
“Sure James, I would love to get away from her,” you said. You switched seats with James, so James was now between Lily and Remus whilst you were on Remus’s right.   
“I’m sorry about her Lily, she doesn’t know what she’s talking about you. Do you want a hug?” James tried  
“As if I would even consider you. You harass my best friend,”  
“What would I have to do for you to fall head over heels for me Evans?”  
“Stop bullying Severus, that would be a start,”  
“No can-do princess, if I stop Sirius would continue, and he is so much worse, I really am doing him a favour if you think about it,”  
“I have seen you, you are a despicable piece of filth,”  
“This despicable piece of filth is your future husband,”  
“I don’t like making promises about the future because you can’t be sure of them, but I can promise you this. I will never marry you, I will never even date you. I would rather be skinned alive than go on a date with you. That will hold true for my entire life,” Lily practically yelled.  
“Miss Evans, if you could please keep these outbursts for outside the classroom, I have a lesson to teach,”  
“What lesson? It started ten minutes ago, and you haven’t even taken out the roll yet, let alone called it out” James sneered, clearly trying to defend Lily,  
“10 points from Gryffindor for speaking out of line Mr. Potter,” James grumbled but thankfully stopped talking. It was at that moment that Binns decided to finally start the lesson. It dragged on and seemed to go on for hours, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that you knew that Remus had heard you in the library, and that it was the full moon tonight. On second thought, maybe that was a good thing you would spend the entire night playing with dog toys.

As everyone filed out of the room you grabbed James and Remus and lead them to the Gryffindor common room to find Sirius and Peter. On the way you saw Severus.  
“Oi Snape,” you yelled out, he turned around and looked quite shocked to see it was you who had called out, especially in such a detached manner,  
“What do you want Potter?” he said in the most scathing tone imaginable  
“Don’t you dare talk to my sister like that, git,”  
“Leave me alone,”  
“Aww, leave me alone, can the poor little snake not defend himself from the Gryffindors. How pathetic you are,”  
“Leave him James, he isn’t worth the time of day. After all, he’s a snake,”  
“See you later Snivellus,” James yelled out as you all walked away.   
“Where’d you get that nickname?”  
“Not a clue, just came to mind. I rather like it, what about you?”  
“Utterly brilliant, brother dearest,” you and James grinned at each other as the three of you made the trek back to the common room.

As you all got through the portrait hole you saw Sirius sitting there, contemplating something,  
“Sirius, my sister’s coming around to our opinions on Snape,”  
“Finally, it has taken you long enough (y/n),”  
“I know, in the hallways she was like Oi Snape, absolutely brilliant,”  
“Then James called him Snivellus, which is a pretty good nickname if I do say so myself,”  
“I think we will give you the credit for the nickname (y/n), a little present for finally coming around to our point of view,” you smiled as you, slumped down onto the couch opposite James and Sirius, and next to Remus,  
“Where’s Peter?”  
“Not a clue, probably trying to find someone to follow around, I mean he’s a nice enough guy but all he does is follow us around and insult you,”  
“Yeah, I don’t particularly like him, but I’ve still got you James and Remus on my side so I just put up with him,”  
“Well that’s one way of dealing with him,” you all continued your conversation until dinner which you were particularly excited for. 

Halfway through dinner and Remus was beginning to get worse, he had already finished all of his pumpkin juice several times over and was waiting for it to refill. He was sitting next to James who had heeded your advice and not drunk anything, so his cup was full.   
“James? Mind if I have your pumpkin juice?”  
“Yeah, sure mate,” James responded, picking up the cup and giving it to Remus. You didn’t realise as you were talking to Sirius about why it was important to not always make it obvious who pulled the prank. After Remus gulped down the entire cup you realised what he had done,  
“Remus, please for the love of Merlin don’t tell me you drank that,”  
“Yeah, I did,”  
“Snape put veritaserum in it, that’s why I told James not to drink it,”  
“Snape did what?” James hissed,  
“Well, I didn’t think anyone would drink it if I told you not to,”  
“Sirius c’mon, let’s do something about this,”  
“You will do no such thing James. You will stay here, and I will deal with it,”  
“What are you going to do? Put his hair in pygmy puff tails? Actually, I should do that sometime, I really am a brilliant prank creator,”  
“No, Lucius and I planned something. Now then, if you would excuse me,” everyone in the hall was already seated and eating, so everyone saw you get up and walk over to the Slytherin table and over to the Black sisters and Lucius.

“Has he drunk it yet?” you asked,  
“Yeah, he has, care to accompany me Miss. Potter?” Lucius said,  
“With pleasure Mr. Malfoy,” you smiled back, “would any of you three care to join us?”  
“Do you even need to ask? I am so in, I wouldn’t mind asking Snape a few questions,” Bellatrix said, standing up with you and Lucius. By this point most people were watching you and their fascination only grew as they watched the three of you walk down the table to where Snape was sitting,  
“So Snape, what did you put in James’s cup?”  
“Veritaserum,” he responded immediately,  
“A little louder,” you prompted,  
“Veritaserum,” he said in a voice loud enough for the entire hall to hear,  
“Why did you do it?”  
“Because Potter and Black bully me,”  
“Well, I’m done now, but I have a feeling you will want to tell the truth for a little while, actually I do have a couple questions for you before I go back to my friends. Do you have a crush?”  
“Yes,”  
“Louder, so everyone can hear,”  
“Yes, I have a crush,”  
“Mhm, ok, what is the name of your crush?”  
“Lily,” he said,  
“Full name please, and maybe a bit louder as well,”  
“Lily Evans,”


	30. Forgetfulness

You left Bellatrix and Lucius to finish having fun with Snape as you made your way back over to Gryffindor table. You sat back down in your seat next to Sirius as all of your group’s eyes stared at you, completely stunned.   
“You, you put veritaserum in his drink?” James said  
“Yeah, Lucius helped me. At the end of lunch, we went to the kitchens to get it prepared,”  
“Why didn’t you also get the stuff out of mine?”  
“The elf wanted payment, Lucius had already given the elf quite a bit of fabric. I figured so long as you didn’t drink it, it’d all be fine,”  
“James, stop with the interrogation. (y/n), that was ingenious, we might be able to make quite the prankster out of you, that truly was a spectacular performance. The way that you walked over to Slytherin table as if you owned the place, the way you spoke to Snivellus, it was pure perfection,”  
“Thanks Sirius, I’m glad I am worthy of your awe,”  
“I am always in awe of you, you can put James in his place like no one else after all. But right now, I am quite in awe of you,” you smiled at Sirius when you heard footsteps approaching you.  
“How dare you do that to Sev, how could you do that to him?” Lily demanded,  
“Do you think that putting veritaserum in someone’s drink is wrong?”  
“Yes, of course it’s wrong, and to then let people ask them whatever they want. What is wrong with you?”  
“I think I should point out that I only did that after I found out he tried to do the exact same thing to my brother,”  
“James doesn’t look like he has drunk any veritaserum and his cup’s empty,”  
“Oh, Evans, hello. I didn’t drink it, Remus did. Oh, I shouldn’t have said that dammit,”  
“Oh, did he now? Remus?”  
“Yes?”  
“I think we should be going now, I don’t think Remus is reacting well to the potion. I think Snape put enough in to try poison him with it. Good night,” you butted in, not wanting Lily to ask Remus anything. You quickly stood up and dragged Remus along with you. You took him out of the Great Hall, down a few hallways and down to the courtyard that had the whomping willow.   
“Thanks,” Remus muttered as you got closer to the tree  
“No problem, I doubt you wanted her asking you whatever she was going to say, Stupefy,” you said aiming your wand at the tree making it go still as you and Remus entered,  
“Still, you didn’t have to,”  
“Remus, you’re my friend, of course I’d do that. I doubt you would want her to ask you anything since she probably wasn’t going to ask you for the answers to our history homework,”  
“Fair point and thank Merlin we don’t have anything due tomorrow. We would be in a lot of trouble if we did,”  
“Well, I could hide in a room and do my homework,”  
“And leave me alone? How dare you, I thought you liked me,”  
“I’m kidding, I wouldn’t do that,”  
“You did last time,”  
“I thought it was clear we were playing hide and seek, you clearly did not get the memo. Also, I think I had a worse time stuck behind that piano in the same position for an hour than you did. Your muscles probably weren’t spent by the end of it,”  
“At least you don’t get scars almost every month, your pain makes you stronger, mine just makes me look more like a monster,”  
“What the hell are you talking about? Most of those scars go away in a day or two since Pomfrey gave you those supplies for them. Besides, I rather like your scars, make you look like you got into a couple fights,”  
“Anyone who knows anyone about me would know I didn’t get into a fight, unless of course a book attacked me,”  
“Well, just don’t let anyone get too close then,”  
“Good idea, maybe you should leave then,”  
“Remus! How dare you suggest that,”  
“You know I’m kidding. I hate being alone, you should know this by now,”  
“Yeah, I do know. Also, I swear they need to magic this tunnel, so it doesn’t take us so long to get through. The first time morning after I thought I would never get to the end I was so tired,”  
“At least we are a good distance from the school, no one will get hurt,”  
“If it helps, I’d hurt them before you could so you wouldn’t get found out,”  
“I appreciate that, but you could get suspended,”  
“Who would recognise a donkey, or a snake or a dog as me, which animal should I attack people as,”  
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t attack people. Also why did you decide to prank Snape earlier?”  
“Because Lucius told me that Snape had planned to do the same thing to James, so I did it back. I did nothing more than what Snape was going to do, I just executed it better,”  
“At least your veritaserum got to the right person,”  
“I could of course just not ask you any questions if you want,”  
“You may as well, I don’t particularly mind. Besides who would you tell? Sirius? James? You didn’t tell them that I am a monster I find it hard to believe that you would tell them any other secret I may or may not have,”  
“How much are you hiding from me then?”  
“Not much,”  
“Well, that’s good to know I suppose,” it was at this point the two of you reached the end of the tunnel. You walked out and onto the floorboards which squeaked underfoot due to the lack of care it received over the years. The wallpaper that was slowly peeling off the walls made you feel sick, even though you had been there so many times already,  
“One of these months we are coming early, and we will try and fix this place up,”  
“We can’t do magic outside of Hogwarts (y/n),” he walked towards you  
“Oh, forgot about that,” you stepped forward  
“You forget a lot of things,” he stepped forward  
“Like what? What do I forget?” you stepped forward  
“You forgot we can’t do magic outside of Hogwarts,” he stepped forward  
“Cheap shot Remus,” you stepped forward  
“You don’t particularly care though, do you?” he practically whispered since you were so close,  
“No, not really,” you responded, feeling his breath on your face  
“I have a question for you,”   
“Mhm?”  
“Who could you see when you smelt the Amortentia?”  
“How did you know that? I didn’t say it,”  
“We both have a soulmate, I saw someone, figured you did too,”  
“Hazy, just utterly hazy. I could tell he was a guy, brown hair kinda awkward stance,”  
“Anything else?” he asked, still whispering  
“No not really, like I said he was really hazy,”  
“Do you have any guesses who it might be?”  
“oh, um uh, yeah,”  
“Who do you think it is?”  
“Doesn’t really matter, he’s my friend, I don’t, and I don’t want to date anyone ‘til 4th year,”  
“Yeah, I get that your brother would kill us anyway,” you stared at him for a moment in shock, you were already sure he had a suspicion, but you didn’t think he would actually voice it. He quickly gave you a small kiss on the cheek, as he backed away slightly you noticed the flush in his cheeks even with the small amount of light that was left. You quickly wrapped your arms around his waist and leant your head on his shoulder as you hugged him. He must’ve thought you would be mad at him for kissing your cheek because he seemed quite shocked at first, but he quickly understood and hugged you back,  
“Nothing will change right?” Remus asked  
“No, but we will probably end up being just a little bit closer,”  
“Just a little bit?”  
“How much closer can we get?”  
“Fair point, but you’re still forgetful,”  
“I forget nothing, I will never forget anything,”  
“What is the main ingredient in the cure for boils?”  
“That is completely unfair! You can’t use potions against me,”  
“You said you don’t forget anything,”  
“You knew what I meant,”  
“Clearly I didn’t,” you wanted to keep talking to him but he started to transform so you immediately turned into a wolf (you had learned the hard way that he would get the ball too quickly if you were anything else). It pained you to hear him scream so loudly, it sounded like he was being struck with hundreds of cruciartus curses at the same time and you just wanted to give him a hug even though you couldn’t. The transformation took a surprisingly long time and seemed more painful than it had been the previous times. As soon as it was over, however, he seemed free from pain and you began to chase a ball around. Most witches and wizards had been taught from a young age that werewolves should be feared and outcast, though watching Remus scamped around the room trying to get the ball he couldn’t have been less scary.


	31. Healing Scars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Mention of cuts. They weren't self inflicted, they occurred because of the way Remus's skin stretches when he transforms. Don't know if that will trigger anyone but just in case. xx

The following morning Remus almost collapsed into your arms once he was human again,  
“You alright? We only have a few hours until class and we need to talk to Dumbledore,”  
“I’m sorry but I honestly couldn’t care less, I’m in absolute pain and I want to go to sleep,”  
“How bad is it? It doesn’t usually effect you so badly,”  
“You haven’t seen me on the first full moon of the year though, it’s always terrible,”  
“Can you at least get back to the castle? Then you can sleep in a bed instead of the mouldy floor boards,”  
“I don’t know, it hurts to move, but I want to get back,”  
“Alright well how about we leave before you get even more tired,” he nodded his head in response and you put his arm over your shoulder as you got him to his feet. The journey back to the castle was slow and Remus was clearly in a lot of pain despite your best efforts to keep him somewhat comfortable. When you were only a few metres from the exit of the tunnel Remus collapsed, dragging you down with him,  
“Remus?” you whispered before realising that he had fallen asleep, and he was on top of you as well which didn’t help. You sat there with Remus on your lap for what felt like an hour. The dirt beneath you probably making your clothes filthy and the smell slowly making you feel increasingly sick. When you figured it had been an hour and realised students would probably be leaving their dorms soon you decided to wake him.   
“Remus? C’mon people are going to be roaming the castle soon, you need to get up,”  
“I’m tired, please just ten more minutes,”  
“I have seen your ten more minutes, I really am sorry, but we need to leave,”  
“You could just let me stay here all day, you go to classes and leave me here,”  
“I’m not leaving you here, besides I can’t go anywhere with you on top of me,”  
“Oh, I didn’t even realise that, maybe you could just stay here as well,”  
“Remus, we both know that won’t work out, we need to go,”   
“Fine but it’s your fault if I fall down a flight of stairs,”  
“If you fall down the stairs then I’ll take the blame, now let’s go,” you gently pushed him off of you then helped him up. You put his arm over your shoulder again and took most of his weight as you walked up all the flights of stairs,  
“God I wish I’d had the forethought to bring that damned cloak with us,”  
“Your fault (y/n),” he muttered, half asleep,  
“Yes, yes I am aware of that,” you looked over and noticed he was about to doze off again, “hey, you aren’t going asleep again ‘til we get back, and we are almost there just one more flight of stairs,” you prompted as you started on the flight of stairs which was definitely the most difficult since you were now carrying almost all of his weight instead of just most of it. 

When you got back to your dorm the boys were just waking up and they all looked quite confused when they saw the both of you enter.  
“What the hell is going on?” James demanded  
“Doesn’t matter,” you said as you got Remus onto the bed where he immediately fell asleep, so you grabbed a spare set of robes and quickly changed in the bathroom. When you walked out of the bathroom ready to see Dumbledore James grabbed your wrist,  
“Tell me (y/n), what the actual hell happened to him? Where were you guys last night?”  
“Like I said, it doesn’t matter, now let me go,”  
“Why where are you going?”  
“Again, doesn’t matter,”  
“What are you hiding from me?”  
“How many times am I going to have to repeat this? It doesn’t matter,” you shoved James off of you, grabbed your bag and ran out of the dorm, making your way to Dumbledore’s office.

“(y/n), I was wondering when you would show up, I thought you had forgotten. Where is Remus exactly?” you said as the both of you made your way over to the couches by the fireplace each sitting across from each other and taking a couple lemon drops,  
“Turns out first full moon of the year is particularly bad, he is in bed resting,”  
“What happened?” he asked suddenly seeming to be quite concerned  
“Yesterday I found out that Snape had put Veritaserum into James’s cup, so I did the same to him and told James not to drink anything at dinner. Remus was particularly thirsty and ended up drinking from James’s cup. He started to look really bad after I came back, and I thought it was because of the Veritaserum. We went to the shack, which I recently found out has been dubbed the Shrieking Shack. When he transformed, it was clear it was worse, his screams were worse than ever, and he looked like he was about to pass out from the pain. Once it was done he was fine and we chased a ball around for most of the night, this morning when he was human again he collapsed and said he was tired and in a lot of pain. I managed to get him through most of the tunnel before he fell asleep on top of me so I couldn’t even come tell you what was going on. I woke him up about 20 or so minutes ago, got him to bed then came here,”  
“Did your friends see you?”  
“Yes, and James tried to interrogate him as well, but I just kept saying doesn’t matter then left,” Dumbledore seemed to be considering what you said then waved his wand and three small meals appeared,  
“I say, we eat breakfast as we usually would, then you bring Remus his breakfast and take care of any injuries he probably has whilst everyone is at breakfast,” so the two of you ate together. You stood up to leave since you had finished your meal,  
“Oh, one last thing, I have noticed you are quite close with the Black sisters and Mr. Malfoy,”  
“Yes we are good friends,”  
“I think you should pursue that friendship, could prove quite beneficial in the future,”  
“Um alright then, have a good day sir,” you said as you walked out.

When you got back to the dorm the boys were gone and Remus was fast asleep. You got out the dittany and some bandages. There were a couple cuts on his face, so you did them first. You knew they hurt the most to heal so fixing them whilst he was asleep was the best idea. You grabbed both of his wrists and straddled his chest so he wouldn’t be able to get you off. You quickly put the dittany on the cuts before holding his head down with your right hand and continuing to hold his wrists in your left. He instantly woke up and started crying in pain and the tears started flowing down his cheeks as the dittany worked. Once it was done you got off of him  
“I’m sorry, I just needed to heal them, and I was hoping you would stay asleep for it,”  
“How, how did that go for, for you?” he stammered between sobs. You hugged him as you continued to apologise.   
“Are there anymore?” you asked once he had calmed down enough,  
“Yeah, on my arms,” he stammered. You took off his robes then his shirt so you could see the cuts. You got the dittany out and put a few drops on each set of scratches and injuries. Every time you did he started crying again and you had to hold him down so he wouldn’t move too much. When you were done you were on the verge of your tears simply because you were so sorry for putting him through so much pain,  
“I am so, so sorry Remus,”  
“It’s fine, you needed to do it,”  
“It’s not fine, you were in pain, and I was just holding you down, I know it was important I did it but I’m still sorry,”  
“I’ll forgive you if you let me sleep from now,”  
“Dumbledore gave me breakfast for you, I’ll just leave it on the bedside table and when you get hungry you can have some,”  
“Thanks (y/n),”  
“Goodnight Remus,”  
“Night,” he mumbled as he fell asleep. You closed the curtains so he could sleep peacefully and made your way to herbology. The class was interesting enough but there were a lot of notes and you were trying to take two sets. Sirius tried to ask you what happened to Remus, but you refused to tell him, and he eventually gave up.

Second was Defence. When you walked in you saw Professor Dowling at the front of the room and all the desks had been moved to the side which meant you had a practical lesson. You immediately paired up with Andy and you spent the entire lesson practicing disarming and blocking the disarming spell. 

You and Andy went to the library to study with Bella, Cissa and Lucius. When you got there the three of them applauded you,  
“How is the resident prankster?”  
“Very well thank you, and yourselves?”  
“Brilliant, we kept interviewing Snape for ages,” Bella told you  
“Actually, Bella did, I didn’t have much to ask,”  
“Did you get in trouble?”  
“No! that was the crazy part, Dumbledore actually seemed to find it funny. Shame you left so quickly, where’d you go?”  
“Remus looked really bad from the Veritaserum. He drank from James’s cup and I didn’t want people being able to ask him anything.”  
“Why did James look so mad at you this morning?” Andy asked in a suggestive tone,  
“Get your mind out of the gutter. We didn’t go back to the dorm last night,”  
“Night under the stars?”  
“Well, that is one way of wording it,”  
“Did anything happen?”  
“He kissed me on the cheek,”  
“I call bridesmaid,”  
“No Andy, I will be that,”  
“You can both be bridesmaid. If we actually get married,”  
“I knew there was a reason we kept you around Potter,”  
“And yet I don’t know why you’re kept around Malfoy, oh yeah so you can snog Cissa,”  
“(y/n)!” Narcissa exclaimed as Lucius burst out laughing.


	32. Fights Everywhere

Once school was over for the day you immediately went back to the dorm to check on Remus. When you got into the common room you were stopped by Lily.   
“How dare you, I thought you were better than that,”  
“Are you still on about what happened last night? I thought we went over this,”  
“Yes of course it’s about last night.”  
“I really don’t have time for this right now, can I leave, or will that just upset you even more?” you asked, making a few heads turn  
“No, you aren’t getting out of this conversation, you know how those pranks affect him, you have seen what he deals with outside of school, how could you do that?”  
“I could do that because he started treating me as if I am v dirt, and you did to,”  
“He was your friend, and now you let Black and Malfoy ask him whatever they wanted to, so did you. The three of you humiliated him,”  
“He was going to do that to James. So how about you go back to Snape now, act like the perfect friend, just counting down the days until the expiration for your friendship which you have already planned. Treat me like I’m a terrible person when you have put an expiration date on your friendship with the guy you have been friends with since you were children, the guy who admitted to the entire hall likes you,” your voice was steadily rising while you were talking until you were just below yelling and everyone was watching, including James, Sirius and Peter,  
“But he didn’t do that to James,”  
“He did, he got the Veritaserum in his cup, I made sure James didn’t drink it, as you know, Remus drank it. Also, it’s funny how that’s the part you respond to, just ignore everything I said that you don’t have a good defence for, since it’s true,”  
“You are just spewing lies,” she started to cry but you didn’t care  
“Oh, but I’m not. You told me you had practically planned to end your friendship with him, whilst you act like the devoted friend, you act as if you would get on your knees for him one day and would gladly watch him get tortured the next, and when he embarrasses himself in front of the school by saying he likes you, what do you do? You don’t go help, you get annoyed with me afterwards, whilst Trix and Lucius are still having fun. Remus saw you, he told me you had a small smile on your face as soon as I started. So don’t you dare come at me for this, saying how terrible of a person I am when you are so much worse. Now then, I think we are done here,” with that you walked away from her as the tears fell down her face with everyone in the common room staring at her. James, Sirius and Peter decided they should go find Snape, tell him about these revelations, it showed in their eyes and Lily saw it too. She looked scared and was about to tell them not to go but they rushed out of the portrait hole before she could.

When you got to the dorm room you sat down on the bed where he was reading   
“You still about to collapse?” you joked,  
“I’ve been asleep for hours, so no,”  
“Well thank god for that, taking two sets of notes whilst getting death glared by Lily and questioned by Sirius or James really takes it out of you,”  
“You didn’t have write me an extra set of notes, I could have just copied yours,”  
“Your handwriting is illegible, it’s a miracle you can read it.”  
“Oh, I can’t read my writing, I can usually only get the gist of what I was writing,”  
“I am going to have to teach you how to write,”  
“Please don’t, just imagine us sitting here with you teaching me to write whilst James, Sirius and Peter watch, laughing their asses off,”  
“We can use the invisibility cloak,”  
“What a waste of the cloak. I thought it would be destined for greater things than hiding me whilst I learn to write legibly,”  
“Better than James using it to prank Snape,”  
“I thought you were part of James’s pranking squad,”  
“Squad?”  
“I’m half asleep, excuse me if I don’t come up with the right word,”  
“Fine, you’re excused, this time, don’t expect this type on leniency in future,”  
“Merlin, can you stop talking like you’re my mum?”  
“Oh, sorry, I was just joking,”  
“It’s fine. Also, where’s everyone else,”  
“What? Oh. Oh no,”  
“What?”  
“I think they went to find Snape,”  
“What’s so much worse about that than usual?”  
“Lily and I had a fight in the common room where we kinda said some stuff about how effected Snape gets by their pranks, how Lily more or less put an expiration date on their friendship, and I think they are going to tell Snape all of that,”  
“You’re kidding me, right?”  
“Nope, they are probably telling him all of that,”  
“Well, uh, I’m not about to go find them so do you wanna read until they come back?”  
“Yeah I guess,”  
“You guess? Do you despise my presence that much?”   
“What? No, how could you even suggest that? Just not really in the mood for reading,”  
“Ok, I’ll study, you can read,” so you got out one of your textbooks, rested on the headboard and waited for the boys to come back. Sure enough, after about half an hour the door slammed open,  
“(y/n), thank you, you gave us the best material we could have ever asked for,”  
“What did you do? I know what you did, but how bad?”  
“Well, we went up to him like Oi Snape he turned around, looked annoyed, you get the gist. Then we started talking about everything that you guys had said. However, the best part was when we told him about that expiration date for the friendship. That guy is naturally pale but oh Merlin did he turn white. We then told him everything else you said and by that point Evans found us. She got mad, then Snape got mad at her. We left and hid and listened to the whole thing. Evans is hot but she is fiery, I think I like her even more now,”  
“What did they say?”  
“Snape got mad, he was all like how could you put an expiration date on our friendship do I mean nothing to you at all and she kept being like she was lying all that crap. Snape didn’t believe her because it was so clear Evans was lying, even Peter could tell, and that’s saying something,”  
“James also brought up something about his home life. Not that we know anything, but you mentioned it, so we mentioned it, made it sound like we know a lot more than we do and he got mad at you and Evans but it was only her there, so she got double the yelling,”  
“You shouldn’t have mentioned his home life y’know,”  
“Yeah, but I wanted to, what is his home life like anyway?”  
“I barely know honestly, and it really isn’t my business anyway,”  
“C’mon (y/n) you can tell us, we won’t tell,”  
“But you will and since I don’t know the full story you would probably end up assuming stuff that isn’t true,” it was then that they remembered Remus,  
“Where were you last night,”  
“How many times James? It. Doesn’t. Matter,”  
“It does matter, you guys leave in the middle of dinner after that stunt you pulled, came back just before breakfast with Remus looking like he was on death’s door,”  
“I wasn’t on death’s door thank you very much,”  
“Fine, you tell me, where were you,”   
“I didn’t even want (y/n) to know, she just found out, so like hell am I telling you who just spills anything and everything to everyone,”  
“You told the girl that studies with wannabe death eaters but not us?”  
“I didn’t actually tell her,”  
“Why would you tell her instead of us?”  
“Well, I’m pretty sure she’s my soulmate and you guys definitely aren’t… oh crap,” James’s face turned a violent shade of red as he launched himself at Remus,  
“That’s my sister you’re talking about, what the hell is wrong with you?” he practically screamed as he started shaking Remus,  
“You barely know her but now she’s your soulmate? Because of what happened in potions? I thought you were smart Remus, I didn’t realise you could be so thick,”  
“Get the hell off him,” you snarled as you pushed James off just after he started to try and punch and hit Remus,  
“Don’t tell me you agree with that crap he’s saying,”  
“Yeah actually I kinda do, so you can go to hell,”  
“What is wrong with you? Why would you even want to be with someone like him?”  
“Like what James? What’s wrong with him?”  
“He’s a broke half-blood who spends his time with his nose in a book, at least if you wanted to be with Sirius it’d make sense. He’s actually interesting, he has a damn personality,”  
“You take that back James,”  
“No, why would you want to be with someone like him when there are so many wealthy purebloods you could be with?”


	33. A Centaur's Warning

You stood in place for a moment, shocked by what James had said,  
“Where you not raised in the same home I was? Or were you brought up in a household like that Blacks? Or the Greengrasses? Or any of the goddam sacred 28? Because where I was brought up I was told there is nothing wrong with being with a half blood, and if you recall you have a crush on Lily, a muggle born,”  
“You know what I mean (y/n),”  
“No, no I don’t know what you mean. How could you say any of this? I was under the impression you considered Remus a friend, I thought that I could make my own decisions,”  
“I did consider him a friend, until he started spewing crap about you two being soulmates, he is lonely as anything, he would just latch on to anyone who is nice to him. Just like Snape,”  
“You take that back, how can you live with yourself, speaking like this,”  
“It’s easy to live with yourself when you don’t try and claim your friend’s twin sister as your soulmate simply because you’re lonely as anything. Besides he’s poor as anything, what makes you think mother and father would approve?”  
“Do you even know them? They have told us since we were babies that they didn’t care who we married so long as they were good for us. If they made us happy, if they were a pureblood brilliant, if they weren’t, oh well, doesn’t matter. If they’re rich, great. If they aren’t then I’d get enough inheritance to live a life of luxury, and so could the next several generations, and we both know it,”  
“Don’t tell me you know mother and father better than I do, you have known them for minutes longer than me,”  
“Oh Merlin, that’s the part you reply to? Not everything else? What the hell James. What has gotten into you? You’re normally a decent person, not whatever this is,”  
“You want to know what’s happened? Fine I’ll tell you, a person I considered my friend is trying to make you his because he is lonely, because he would lead a life of nothing if you didn’t exist, he would be dirt poor and he knows it, no one would hire someone like him, someone without a personality, who would be MIA once every few weeks for undisclosed reasons, that raises questions you know. I don’t even think you know him,”  
“I know him better than you realise,”  
“Tell me one thing you know about him that I don’t,”  
“Well, um,” you said realising that most of the things you knew about Remus that he didn’t were things Remus wouldn’t want James knowing, such as being a werewolf,  
“That’s exactly what I thought, so get the hell away from me, I don’t want someone who would side with a manipulator instead of their own flesh and blood,”  
“James, it’s me you’re mad with, please leave her alone,”  
“You don’t tell me what to do Remus, and don’t you dare act as if you know what’s best for her. You know nothing Remus Lupin,”  
“James,” Sirius said, trying to grab James’s wrists, “James, c’mon mate, calm down will you?”  
“Get off of me,” he snarled as he tried to get out of Sirius’s grip,  
“No, we are leaving ok?” get you to calm down,  
“And leave them in a bedroom together?”  
“Fine, (y/n), Remus, go somewhere else while I get him to calm down please,” you nodded and you both got up and walked out of the room.

You were practically dragging Remus behind you as he tried to keep up, still not fully recovered from last night. He tried asking you to slow down but you were so angry you didn’t even hear him until you had just gotten out of the main entrance to the school.

“Oh, sorry,” you mumbled realising his wrist now had a red ring on it from your grip,  
“Don’t worry about it, it’s fine,” you nodded your head and started walking away again, stuffing your hands in your pockets  
“Hey, so uh, where we are going exactly?”  
“Not a damned clue,”  
“Oh, that’s great I guess, hey can you slow down just a bit?” you tuned that last part out as you started walking around the lake, pushing the snow out of the way with your feet as you walked. You were so mad at James you kept tuning in and out, one moment you could hear Remus behind you trying to catch up and the next you could hear James yelling at you. This pattern continued until you got to the Forbidden Forest,  
“(y/n), no, we aren’t allowed to go in there, forbidden, it’s in the name,”  
“How would anyone know if I went in there for a day, a week, a year?”  
“They could just follow the sound of your breathing, I swear it’s almost as loud as you shouting at the moment,”  
“That’s because I’m mad, and no, they would never find me, I could hide in there my whole life, they would never find me,”  
“What are you talking about? Of course, they would,”   
“They would look for an 11-year-old witch, they would not look for an animal, perhaps a hippogriff, or maybe a blast ended skrewt, maybe I’ll try my luck as a mermaid in the lake, you never truly know. Maybe I could fly around Hogwarts just to taunt them,”  
“Calm down, you aren’t thinking straight. You aren’t yourself,”  
“I’m like this when I’m mad, get used to it. Usually, I run away and be an animal for a while, very therapeutic, being able to fly overhead and relieve myself on James when flying,”  
“That’s terrible though, I didn’t realise you could be so spiteful,”  
“Were you not paying attention in there to how James was speaking? That isn’t the first time and it always goes in the exact same way, he gets mad, he yells, he hits, he tries to punch, he pushes all the right buttons, I get mad, I yell, I make him worse, I leave and fly around as an eagle or something, couple times a dragon if I’m mad, but I have to be a small one. I could probably become a huge dragon if I wanted to here, no one would know it’s me, and they’d never find the dragon again since it’d just be me walking around getting annoyed I didn’t see it,”  
“They’d notice me though, I can’t become animals,”  
“Technically you can, if you recall,”  
“I’d prefer it if you didn’t bring that up,”  
“Sorry, now come on, if anyone follows ill become a hippogriff or something and I can fly us into the canopy or something so no one would spot either of us,”  
“You should have brought the cloak,”  
“James would have broken Sirius’s wrists getting out of his grasp if I tried that and you know it. Now come on, we don’t have long until dinner,” Remus rolled his eyes but decided to follow you. You both walked through the underbrush and further into the forest until you couldn’t see where the castle was. Remus started to freak out, but you seemed completely at ease, you kept walking through, just hoping to find something, anything. You didn’t know what you were searching for, but you felt like there was something you were looking for. For quite a while neither of you encountered any creatures which made Remus even more worried, he thought the forest should have felt more alive. 

After 20 or so minutes of walking you heard a galloping and as a couple of centaurs raised their bows you swished your head to face them,  
“What are you two doing? Trespassing on our land,”  
“My apologies, I was mad and needed to go somewhere where people wouldn’t look for me,”  
“And him?”  
“I dragged him along with me,”  
“You two have no business in this forest, it is a place for magical creatures, classes and detention, so unless either of you are more magical than you look you will leave before I take you captive,”  
“I’m a shapeshifter, I believe that gives me enough reason to be here,”  
“Prove it,” you became a cat, then a horse, then a hippogriff, then returned to your human state,  
“And you?” he asked Remus,  
“Oh, I’m a um, were, a uh, werewolf,”  
“You two may be in this forest but I wouldn’t recommend being here long, there are creatures here that would tear you limb from limb, even if you were the most powerful witch or wizard imaginable,”  
“Thank you for your warning…”  
“Firenze,”  
“Well thank you for the warning Firenze, I’m (y/n) and this is Remus,” he nodded his head before galloping away again with the centaur he came with who had remained suspiciously silent.  
“Sorry for telling James by the way,”  
“Don’t worry ‘bout it, he would have figured it out eventually,”  
“Do you believe what James said about me?”  
“Nah, but even if what he said was convincing I wouldn’t have believed it, he talks crap when he’s mad. I usually tune it out,”  
“You didn’t this time,”  
“I said usually didn’t I?”  
“Yeah, I suppose you did,” he chuckled


	34. Mending Friendships

You didn’t end up turning into anything on that trip to the forest. You had a couple times in the past, but you ended up just wandering around for a couple of hours until dinner. You rather liked the forest, it was dark, tranquil, you feel the magical energy flowing through it. In the tracks it was weak, but in where wizards didn’t frequent you could feel the magic flowing through your veins, it would be a great place to practice spells. 

When you walked into the great hall for dinner you saw James sitting next to Peter, opposite Sirius. You both sat next to him, deciding it was better not to sit with James.   
“Oh, hey guys, what you been up to?”  
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,”  
“Try me then,”  
“We were walking around the Forbidden Forest,”  
“You expect me to believe that you got Remus, the guy who would never break a rule, to go to the Forbidden Forest?”  
“I told you that you wouldn’t believe me. Guess I was right then,”  
“Oh, you got it completely backwards, I was merely surprised,”  
“Sure, you were,”  
“C’mon Sirius, you don’t actually believe her do you? It’s (y/n) it took her a term to prank Snape like hell would she go into the Forbidden Forest. Not that she could even persuade Lupin to go there either, he doesn’t even break the rule about running in the corridors let alone going there,” James said, with a mouth full of food  
“I actually believe them, she looks like she is ready to punch you after all,”  
“I am always ready to punch him Sirius,”  
“Oh yes, (y/n), James has something he would like to say to you,” Sirius elbowed James in the ribs to prompt him since he probably would have ignored him if he hadn’t  
“Sorry (y/n), it’s your life you can do as you wish I shouldn’t have yelled at you,”  
“It’s fine James,” he looked up and smiled at you, though it was quite obvious he didn’t want to even acknowledge Remus, especially since he had referred to him as Lupin previously,  
“I only managed to get him to come around with (y/n), sorry Remus he’ll apologise soon enough,”  
“Sirius, I have known James since the day I was born, if he hasn’t forgiven him yet, it’s doubtful he’ll forgive him within a week, maybe after that the anger will subside, but he probably won’t apologise,” you said,  
“Oh Merlin guys, can we just eat already? I am so sick of listening to you all fighting over all this crap, deal with it in private would you,” Peter snarled,  
“Fine Peter, we’ll be quiet, after all we should all make sure you’re comfortable,” you countered. Peter rolled his eyes as the rest of the boys, including James, all snickered.

When you got back to your room that night you finished off some of your homework whilst you explained some of the exact wand movements for Transfiguration. The time passed quickly, however the tension in the air was thick. James acted his typical goofy self with you, but he still looked at Remus with disdain until you’d had enough,  
“James?”   
“Mhm, what is (y/n)?” he asked, not really paying attention,  
“Wanna go to the common room?”  
“Not really, I’m comfortable here and we are going to sleep soon anyway,”  
“James, that wasn’t really a question,” James understood and got up, following you down the stairs to the common room. You sat on one of the chairs in front of the fire and James sat opposite you,  
“Please don’t be so hard on Remus, James,”  
“You’re my sister though, and it’s him. I wouldn’t expect one of your friends to do anything even remotely romantic with me unless you were ok with it,”  
“There is nothing going on between us though, we are just friends,”  
“He called you his soulmate,”  
“Yeah, and I think he might be right, Slughorn said it was likely I already knew him, and the same went for Remus. Andy thinks the same as well. But nothing is happening, I don’t want to date anyone until at least 4th year,”  
“But you think you’re soulmates, you sleep with him for Merlin’s sake,”  
“So? If we figured it out when we were 5, would we have done anything about it?”  
“I guess not,”  
“Exactly. So, you ready to go back to our room?”   
“No, I want to ask you why you are so against Lily, I know you explained Christmas and everything but why don’t you go back to her? You don’t have many girlfriends you have a lot of boyfriends,”  
“I’m going to assume that was you messing up words. I don’t know, I might forgive her when she apologises, but she’s the one that started all this crap. I’m not going to apologise for something she started,”  
“But she’s your friend, you aren’t entirely in the right either,”  
“No, I’m not, but if she can’t apologise for something she started, I just, I don’t know. She used to be great but now she seems to hate me, and I just want to get away from her. Does that make sense?”  
“Yeah I guess it does, c’mon let’s go back now,” you nodded and stood up, giving James a hug as you walked back to your room, completely oblivious to the fact Lily was sitting in the corner crying as she listened to your conversation.

When you got back you walked to your trunk and got your pyjamas and went to get changed. As you walked into the room you realised something was off. You looked up and noticed that the boys had moved three of the beds together to create one massive bed and all of the boys were already in bed. Peter next to Janes, who was next to Sirius, who was next to Remus. Since you definitely didn’t want to sleep next to Peter, and you were used to sleeping with Remus anyway you got in next to Remus, even though it meant you were on the very edge. It was a bit squishy for everyone, but no one was bothered to get the other beds. Remus put an arm around you, as you began to fall asleep. 

At some odd hour of the morning, you woke up, hitting the ground, closely followed by Remus also falling out of the bed and waking up. When you sat up you found that Peter and James had completely spread out and had pushed Sirius across as well, leading to you and Remus falling. Remus managed to get Peter and James back into line and you both got back into bed. 

When morning came James was the first to wake up, seeing Remus with his arm around you, and you snuggled in close to him. He wanted to get mad but he wanted to believe what you had told him, so he left it alone and went to go get dressed. When he came back into the room to wake everyone there was a knock at the door. He opened it to see Lily standing there. She was still wearing the clothes from the previous night and the tears that stained her face made her entire state look terrible,   
“Can, can I talk to (y/n) please?” she half whispered,  
“Uh yeah sure, I’ll have to wake her though,” he walked away to wake you, leaving Lily in the doorway to see how everyone had slept the previous night as well as you in Remus’s arms.   
“(y/n), wake up. Evans wants to talk to you,”  
“Hm? Oh, um ok, where is she?” you mumbled,  
“In the doorway,” you sat up waking Remus as well. He glanced at you, then to the door before going back to sleep. You got up and walked over to Lily,  
“Can we maybe go to the common room or something?”  
“Whatever you want to say to me, it can be said here,”  
“Oh, ok, well I just wanted to say that I was sorry. For getting so mad at you, for siding with Sev, for everything that happened after Christmas?”  
“Why did you do it?”  
“Sev was really mad at you because of Christmas, how you saw all the bruises and everything. So, I sided with him, kind of throwing you under the bus for me. I was hoping you would see him; hope you could get him out of that house or something. Anyway, I really am sorry for everything,”  
“It’s fine I guess, but promise you won’t do this again? ‘Cause it was kinda low, not trying to be mean, but it was a bit,”   
“I’ll try not to girly, I messed up,”  
“Well, you’re forgiven, and I am sorry for being so crappy to you, but I was mad as anything at you,”  
“It’s fine, anyway I might go ‘cause this getting awkward, see ya later,”  
“See you later Lils,” you turned back to see all four of the boys looking at you,  
“What?”  
“That was so time consuming, most guys are just like sorry mate pat each other on the back and get back to it,”  
“Does that really help?”  
“A bit,”


	35. Playing Dirty in DADA

You walked into Defense thinking that everything was right with the world. James was calm, Lily was sort of your friend again, you didn’t trust her like you used to, but it was something. Walking in something was different. The tables were organized strangely, everything was off, the decorations were moved around, it made you feel disoriented, and it seemed to do the same to everyone else.   
“Good morning everyone, please take a seat, any seat. I don’t want you sitting with your friends. Sit in a random spot, as everyone files in they will all take a random seat,” you took a seat to the far left near the back. You watched everyone file in, a random Slytherin sat with Remus, a couple Gryffindors sat with James and Andromeda. Most people didn’t notice that you were even there, so no one sat with you. The last person to walk in was Snape, who realized quite quickly what was going to happen. He sneered and sat next to you. Lily turned around to see who you ended up with and instantly went pale, realizing very quickly how badly this lesson was going to go for you.

“Ok then class, now that you have all taken your seats it’s time to find out why. Many of you have probably noticed your opponent’s tells, the small things they do before they cast a spell that let you get a shield up in time. So today you are going to do a bit of theory, just questions 1-4 from your books, page 74. Then meet me at the front with the person you are sitting with. The scratching sound of quills on parchment filled the room, you had heard the noise your entire life, but it still set your teeth on edge a bit. Despite that you completed the questions and went to the front. When everyone was standing Professor Dowling swished her wand and the tables neatly moved to the edges of the room,  
“Now everyone please spread out, and face your partners,” thus far Snape hadn’t acknowledged you; he merely tolerated your presence as if it were a chore. When you were standing in front of him ready to fight, he sneered at you disapprovingly.  
“Ok, now I want you to practice the bogey hex and the knockback jinx. I want your opponent to block the spells and if you can keep it going. Try going back and forth as if you were in a real duel.

As soon as she stopped talking Snape fired the bogey hex at you and you effortlessly deflected it. You could still feel some of the magic in your veins from your walk in the forest, so you started sending the spells at him in quick succession. They weren’t perfect it was better than usual. Snape kept trying to send spells at you, but you could see when he was about to and used it as a window to hit him.  
“Brilliant everyone, now why not try the Verdimillious charm as well?” Snape’s eyes glinted with something you couldn’t place, as he started casting you started a deflection charm. You realized too late that the charm’s you had learnt did not have the wand movement that he was using. It was different and so were the words. Fear filled you as the burst of light hit your shield, but it was a stronger spell than your shield could handle. It hit your right shoulder where your arm met your shoulder and cut into it, deeply. You were thrown a few meters back, stopped by the desks that you were close too. You saw the blood flow out of your arm as dark spots filled your vision and you screamed out in pain. The last things you saw before the dark spots filled your vision, rendering your eyes useless was Remus and Lily in front of you being pushed out of the way by Professor Dowling as Sirius started advancing on Snape.

“Plea… mfrey,”  
“No, I …ve told … already,”  
“Sh… r friend,”  
“… sleeping,” your ears kept tuning in and out, allowing you to only hear parts of the conversation going on a few meters away. You weren’t sure if they were whispering or if they were just too far away, but it hurt your head to think about it. You tried to open your eyes, but they felt like they had been spelled shut, they were too heavy to force open. The thought scared you but being scared hurt. You tried to make a noise, to get someone to notice you but it hurt to your head to even think to. You tried to move, which you succeeded in, but you only moved a millimeter or so before the excruciating pain overwhelmed your entire being. You screamed out in immense pain, which hurt your head and your dry throat, making you scream even louder. 

You felt hands on your head, but your eyes where still closed and the thought of someone touching you without you even knowing who they were filled you with fear, but it hurt too much to move,  
“Shh, quiet now girl,” a voice said, her voice seemed to alleviate the pain somewhat and you stopped screaming as her hands left your face several moments later. Your eyes suddenly felt light, and you opened them. You saw Madam Pomfrey front and center with your friends behind her. The next thing you noticed was that the infirmary was filled with candlelight instead of natural light.  
“You had quite a nasty spell, some kid threw a dangerous,”  
“It was Snape,”  
“Yes, thank you for than Mr. Black. As I was saying he threw a dangerous curse at you, one that isn’t taught until 6th year Defense which is particularly peculiar. He got your shoulder which is quite fortunate as getting you square in the chest or stomach would have been much more difficult to heal. The spell tore through your ligaments and threw you backwards, severely dislocating you, caused a concussion and some either minor issues. You will need to spend the night here so that you can recover from the concussion before repair the ligaments. It will hurt to move it since you damaged a lot of flesh around the joint so I will petrify that area. I’d have done it sooner but, you know, it is dangerous to petrify an unconscious person,” you didn’t take in half of what she said,  
“I suppose your friends can stay here until lights out if they must but they are not to stay overnight and if the conversation becomes in anyway tiring they are to all leave. Is that clear?”  
“Yes, Madam Pomfrey,” they chorused in unison. She walked out to leave you with your friends,  
‘Oh Merlin (y/n) I thought you were a goner, you looked terrible,” Remus started  
“He’s right you know,” Andromeda’s voice filled the room, “you looked like you were about to die. Even Dowling looked scared, and she’s never scared,”  
“Remus came running into my Transfiguration class, he looked pale as anything even though he’d run all the way from your DA room. McGonagall looked right mad but when he said what happened she let him leave. We fought with Pomfrey for ages to let us see you but ended up going to second class since she locked us out. We tried again at lunch and after school, but it didn’t work. We had just started trying again when you woke up,” James said  
“What time is it?” you mumbled  
“9:20, we have 40 minutes until curfew, but we would need to leave in 30, maybe 35 since it takes a while to get back to the common room,”  
“What happened to Snape,”  
“Professor Dowling was livid,” Andy started, her melodic and soft voice calming you a bit “After she called Madam Pomfrey, since it was clear it was unsafe to move you, she saw Sirius advancing on him. He started sending a lot of hexes at him, I didn’t even know some of the spells. She quickly stopped him and started yelling at him. He has detention with her for the rest of the term every afternoon from 3:30 until dinner, can you believe it?”   
“And he has to talk with Dumbledore, well he did earlier. I think he’s still in there, didn’t see him at dinner,” your eyes started to feel heavy again and they noticed,  
“Guys it might be a good idea to leave,” Sirius suggested,  
“I’m not leaving her, she’s my bloody sister,”  
“Little on the nose James considering my shoulder,”  
“Always with the humour (y/n), do you mind if we stay?”  
“Sure, but I can’t promise I’ll stay awake,” you mumbled. Only a moment or so you fell asleep. 

Andromeda decided to leave, so did Peter, who stayed silent the entire time. Sirius wanted to stay but James told him to go to bed since moody Sirius was a Sirius no one would want to deal with. So, James and Remus stayed for the entire night under the invisibility cloak. They just sat there together making sure you were alright and just whispered to each other for most of the night until they also fell asleep.


End file.
